Break Her Down
by bubbles2100
Summary: "The questions bounced around in his head, all of them mocking him. Mocking him because he was twenty three years old, and he had managed to get himself caught up in an unexpected pregnancy with the girl of his dreams. Yes. It was happening to him."
1. Chapter 1: Meet Me Over Coffee

**Disclaimer: I do not own Unnatural History. **

Chapter 1- Meet Me Over Coffee

"Hey," she said. She was sitting at the booth near the corner of the coffee shop, one hand on her coffee mug and the other in her lap. Jasper had just gotten there, making him only five minutes late because of an ice issue on his windshield that morning.

"Hey," he greeted warmly. He slid into the booth across from her and smiled. She looked beautiful, just as beautiful as she had when they were together. He was still feeling the heartbreak from the break up, and he knew that she must have had a serious reason for wanting to meet him.

"So I have to talk to you," she said softly. She moved her other hand up onto the table and grasped the other side of the mug. Jasper breathed out and took his gloves off.

"Ok," He drew the word out and made eye contact with her. He loved her eyes; they were so easy to get lost in.

"About two months ago I went to an adoption agency," she said. Jasper breathed out and looked at her, very confused.

"Adoption agency? You're adopting a kid? Why do you have to-" She hushed him with that look. His heart melted at the sight of it.

"Jasper, _I'm_ not adopting a kid. Someone's adopting mine," His jaw dropped and he didn't know what to say. There were questions in his mind. All of them trying to organize themselves in order of importance, but he couldn't think straight.

"You- you have a kid?" he asked breathlessly, leaning forward. She breathed out and closed her eyes.

"_We_. We have a kid," His jaw was now on the floor, and all the questions seemed to be merging into a giant frenzy of letters and question marks. He couldn't think. He could barely let a word out.

"What?"

"I'm pregnant," He threw himself back in the booth and closed his eyes, his head pointing towards the ceiling. He breathed out loudly and tried to think of what to say. This was definitely happening. It was happening to him. The woman he had been in love with for thirteen years was carrying his kid, and now, she was giving it up. Jasper looked back at her and ran a hand through his hair.

"How long have you kept this from me?" She had tears in her eyes, and Jasper knew it hurt her as much as it hurt him.

"Four months," she said. "I've known for four months," Jasper blinked out tears that had been building and looked down at the table.

"Maggie, how could you not tell me?" he asked, still looking at the table. She didn't answer for a moment and he heard her crying.

"I was scared," she whimpered. "It was right after we broke up and I didn't want you to think I made it up so you'd get back with me,"

"But you broke up with me," Jasper said, looking at her. She nodded and closed her eyes again, allowing more tears to run down her face. She looked different. She was definitely showing. He didn't know how he didn't notice before. She glowed too, and her facial features seemed to be slightly larger. Probably the bloaty thing that happens, he wasn't sure. He wasn't a doctor _or_ a woman, so he'd probably never know.

"I just didn't want you to feel bad or something," she said. Jasper reached across the table and touched her arm.

"It's ok, Maggie. I forgive you," She looked at him through her tears, and Jasper saw that look in her eyes. The look that said she wanted a hug or someone to hold her. He wished he could provide that for her, but he couldn't. Not if she didn't want him to.

"Am I doing the right thing? Putting it up for adoption?" He wanted to say no. _No, you're doing the wrong thing. Keep it and we can do this the right way._ But, he didn't. He didn't say anything. Maybe it was because he was still in shock. Maybe it was because he wasn't over their break up still. Maybe it was because she was looking to him for the answer to her problem, and he didn't have one.

"Do you think you are?" he retorted, moving his hand away from her. Just touching her without aching for more was impossible.

"I don't _know_," she sighed, looking into her cup. Jasper looked outside. The sun was shining through the clouds, and shining onto the freshly fallen snow.

"Well- do what you think is the right thing," he said. "If you want it, keep it. And if you don't, give it away,"

"But Jasper, it's yours too, you need to have some say in what I do with it," He breathed out again and knew this was probably his only chance to tell her. It was his only chance to make her stop and think about what she was doing.

"Maggie, if you think you can raise a kid and you want to, then you need to keep it," That was all he said. He stood up and looked at her once before he stepped over to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. Then, he left her sitting in the corner of the coffee shop.


	2. Chapter 2: Regrets

**Disclaimer: I do not own Unnatural History.**

Chapter 2- Regrets

The more he thought about it, the more he regretted not saying anything more. He was getting close to his car now, but he couldn't turn back. If he turned back, that would be a sign of weakness. He needed Maggie to know he wasn't weak. As he unlocked the car he crowned 'crappiest Honda on the planet' he heard the sound of crunching snow from behind him. He turned and saw her approaching quickly.

"Jasper," she said, causing him to stand there. He saw the bump. The baby bump: the result of his doing. It made him want to start crying, but men don't cry, not at silly things like baby bumps. Maybe they cry on the day of their first kid's birth, but _not_ at their baby bump.

"Yeah?" he asked. She was close to him now, so close he could reach out and grab her hands if he wanted to. And he wanted to, but he refrained.

"I'm going to DC tomorrow," Jasper nodded and started to back up into the car. "To spend Christmas with my parents and to tell them about this," She put a hand on her belly, causing Jasper to look at it again. _Oh, God. Why does this have to be so hard?_

"Ok," he said, still looking at it.

"I was kind of wondering if you'd come with me," She spoke softly, and Jasper snapped his eyes up to meet hers immediately after she said it. "So it's not upsetting when they find out,"

"What do you mean _upsetting_?"

"I mean, we're not together, and that will make my dad really upset. He always told me to wait until I was married to start a family, and now- I'm letting him down,"

"So you want me to come with you so you can lie to him?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Just so he knows it's yours, not someone else,"

"But why would that make a difference?"

"Because you're the one he had to deal with for those two years we were together," she practically yelled. Jasper sighed.

"Maggie, it's not that big of a deal. We broke up, it happens all the time,"

"But we were together two years. He assumed we were going to-" She stopped suddenly, and Jasper knew what she was going to say.

"Get married," he finished for her.

"Yeah," she spoke quietly again. Jasper knew what she was trying to say. She was trying to say she regretted breaking up with him. But she probably wouldn't admit it out loud.

"You're keeping it?" he asked. She bit her lip.

"I don't know,"

"Come on, Maggie," he pleaded, stepping towards her again. "I know you're at least thinking about it because you're telling your parents,"

"Jasper, it's not that I'm not thinking about it, it's just- I don't know if I can do it," She threw her hands up and looked like she could explode with anxiety. "Raising a baby is a lot of work for one person- and I don't want to do it alone,"

"Do you know what I was going to do the day you broke up with me?" he asked suddenly. She looked him in the eyes and shook her head.

"No,"

"I was going to ask you to marry me," Jasper almost couldn't believe that the words came out of his mouth. He took a breath and looked down, away from her. She held her mouth open, and he could hear her crying.

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I don't know why I broke up with you. I don't,"

"Was it because you were scared?" he asked, looking back at her. She was still crying and she was looking down. "You can get scared, Maggie. It's ok to be scared,"

"I was scared of commitment," she said. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "Because I didn't want to get too close to you so you could break me again,"

"I would never do anything to hurt you," Jasper said, taking her hands. She was wearing bright red mittens that she knitted for herself last winter, and that made him remember all the good times they had together. All the memories he had with her. She was his life. "Ever,"

"Jasper," she whispered the word through her crying. He pulled her into his arms, holding her there and making sure she felt his heart beating. He closed his eyes and soaked in the moment. Holding her like he always used to do.

"I'll come to DC with you," he said as he continued to hold her. He could feel her arms around his back, and her waist was bigger. He was so used to her petite frame and her thin structure that it almost surprised him when he felt it. He could _actually_ feel it up against him. That in itself was a reason to go with her.

"Thank you," she said into his jacket. It vibrated through his being, and he felt a chill go up his back.


	3. Chapter 3: Sleep Talking

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History. **

Chapter 3- Sleep Talking

He was driving. It was almost six in the morning, and he was driving; driving to Washington DC with his pregnant baby-mama. He didn't know what else to call her. She wasn't his girlfriend, fiancé, or wife. Oh God no on that last one. She'd die before she let that happened, he knew. She was resting peacefully in the passenger's seat, reclined a little. Her hands were on her belly and her head was tilted to the right, the way she always slept. Jasper missed seeing her sleep, so he would occasionally look over at her and smile. She was beautiful, he decided.

She was wearing sweatpants and a tee shirt, her jacket over top, and her hair down like it normally was. She had taken her shoes off because they made her feet hurt, apparently. Jasper was skeptical on why they would hurt, but he didn't argue her taking her shoes off. As long as she was comfortable, he was fine with them being off.

Looking back at the dim road, his mind drifted around. He was thinking about a lot of things. How he'd tell his own dad that he got Maggie pregnant, how he'd try to win her back so she'd keep the baby. He really wanted to keep the baby. He looked again at her. Then at her baby bump. Yep, she was pregnant. And in her mind, she wanted to give it up. Jasper sighed and watched the signs on the side of the road casually. There was at least another three hours of driving, and they'd been on the road for two already. It was then that he realized how much he hated driving. He used to like it, when he first had his license, but that wore off after driving Henry around all the time.

Henry. How would he tell Henry about Maggie? Jasper tried to think about that one, but nothing even came to the surface of the pool. There were all kinds of different ways he could have approached the situation. He could ignore it, but that would be incredibly rude- especially since Henry was like his brother. But how do you just go up to someone and say '_Oh, hey. I got Maggie pregnant and she's giving it away. So, how are you?'_?

"No, I love Jasper," Maggie mumbled. Jasper looked at her from the road in shock. She was still sleeping, meaning she said that in her sleep. But was it true? Jasper wanted to wake her up and ask her. But, he knew that she'd get mad at him or something, so he didn't. A few minutes passed and she mumbled something else, "I can't live without you-"

"Maggie," he said, touching her arm. She was usually a light sleeper, and he was proven correct when her eyes fluttered open.

"What?" she asked.

"You were talking," Jasper said with a smirk. She repositioned the seat and looked like she could cry.

"What did I say?" she spoke cautiously. Jasper looked back at the road, thinking about whether or not he should tell her.

"I- don't think you'd like it if you knew," She smacked his arm, causing him to look at her again.

"Tell me,"

"Ok, fine, crazy lady," he said, hurting from the impact. He couldn't tell her, though. She would be so embarrassed. But who better to tell her than him? "First, you said something like 'No I love Jasper' and then-" He paused for great dramatic effect, causing her to inhale. "You said 'I can't live without you'," Maggie breathed out and looked out the window for a moment. Jasper looked back to the road.

"I was arguing with my dad," she said finally. "And he insisted that I get away from you so you wouldn't hurt me, but I told him that I love you,"

"Is that _true_, or just one of those creepy dreams that are the opposite of true?" She laughed and shook her head.

"I-I don't know," Jasper felt his heart sink. He had allowed the possibility of it being true to work itself up. Now he'd have to get over her not knowing. "But when I found you, you were singing that song two is better than one like you did on my birthday," Jasper smiled at the memory, but didn't know really what to say.

"And why did you say 'I can't live without you' then?"

"I was speaking the lyrics," she said. "But not to you. It was to the baby,"

"Oh," It was all that really could come out of his mouth. He didn't know what else to say. She really had him confused with where she stood on their relationship. Was she in love with him or not? Jasper wanted to pull over and ask her flat out for a straight answer, but refrained knowing his baby mama would be _pissed_ if he did.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she said suddenly, ripping him away from his thoughts. He turned his head to look at her and sighed.

"The bathroom," he repeated. "You should have said something ten minutes ago when we passed the rest stop,"

"I was sleeping," she reminded him. Jasper rolled his eyes.

"I was just teasing, Mags," She didn't reply, and Jasper pulled off onto the next exit. It was almost six thirty. It was taking forever to get to DC, and he had a feeling it would be six thousand times longer than it initially needed to take.


	4. Chapter 4: Decision

Chapter 4- Decision

If Jasper counted all the times he had to stop his car for Maggie to go to the bathroom, neither hand could hold it all. Neither could his feet. In fact, if he added all fingers and toes that would probably only be a fraction of the amounts of times she had to go.

By some miracle, however, they made it to Washington DC by noon. She was reading some book on physics, and he was trying not to look like he was irritated at the slow old person driver in front of him. Their head was literally barely above the rim of the steering wheel, and they swerved all over the place. He finally gave up and let out an aggravated grunt that earned him a look from Maggie.

"What was that? You sounded like a bear," she laughed. He looked at her and sighed.

"Old people are the _worst_," She put her book in her lap after folding a corner over and looked ahead.

"Aw, she's cute,"

"What? Maggie, she's going fifteen miles under the speed limit in a community," She laughed again and looked at him.

"It's not that bad, Jasper. We're almost there anyway," The blinker on the car in front of them flashed and Jasper laughed.

"_Yes_! Finally,"

"Jasper," she used a threatening tone. Jasper looked at her as he waited for the turn.

"Who's been driving for the past eight hours? That's right, me," he said. "So I wouldn't use that tone with me, baby mama, if you want me to help you,"

"Baby mama?" she laughed. Jasper looked back at the road and started driving, much faster, now that the old person was gone.

"Well, yeah," he said, kind of confused. "Isn't that what you are? You're my baby mama,"

"I guess…" she muttered. Jasper knew he probably made her uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, I won't call you that anymore,"

"No, its ok," she said quickly. Jasper looked at her. "I mean- it's true, so it doesn't really matter,"

"But it does," Jasper retorted. "Because when you get upset you pretend there's something wrong with your fingernails, and you haven't stopped looking at them since I said it," She looked up from them and smiled.

"I guess you really do know me, Jasper,"

"Nothing's wrong with them, by the way," He was looking at the road and turning onto the street Maggie's parents lived on. "Except maybe the fact that your pinky finger on your left hand is a different color than the rest,"

"How did you-" she laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is,"

"What- did you paint them in the dark or something?"

"No,"

"Then how does something like that happen?"

"I think I ran out of blue so I went to the next best thing,"

"Pink," Jasper stated as he pulled into the driveway.

"Pink kind of goes with blue," she argued lightly. Jasper looked at her and laughed.

"Ok, baby mama, whatever you say," That made her laugh, and Jasper was glad she was laughing. Her laugh was beautiful and it always managed to make his heart stop.

"Before we go in we have to talk about this first," Maggie said more seriously. He breathed out.

"About what? Your nails?"

"No," she laughed. "The baby. What we're going to do with it,"

"Oh," Jasper said. He sat back and looked at the radio clock. It was 12:34. He made a wish. He wished that Maggie would stop holding back and tell him she loved him. The minute switched and his mind was numb. Maybe it was all that driving. He looked at her again.

"I didn't fill out the paperwork yet at the adoption place," she said. "So if we want to keep it we still can,"

"We," Jasper said, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't want me to have anything to do with this,"

"No, no," she said quickly. "I do, I want you to-" She took a deep breath and paused. Jasper had a feeling about what was coming, and it was proven correct when she spoke again, "I want you to be a good baby daddy," Jasper wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. It was physically impossible. He just smiled a dorky smile and tried not to make her feel bad about wanting a 'good baby daddy'.

"Um," he started. "How can I do that?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "Probably first by telling me what we're doing with it,"

"Do you want to keep it? If you don't want to keep it, then it's pointless for me to say anything, because you'll do what you want in the end and-"

"Yes, I want to keep it," she interrupted loudly, causing an awkward silence.

"Then there's your answer, baby mama," he laughed. He unbuckled himself and opened the car door. "Let's go,"

"Jasper," she whined. "I don't know though,"

"You don't know what though?"

"I don't know if I can do this by myself," He had the urge to just tell her to get over herself and say it to his face. Tell him that she wanted him to be there and help her. But, instead, he sighed.

"There are a lot of things we don't know we can do by ourselves until we actually do them," He said nothing more, and got out of the vehicle to stretch his very sore, aching legs. Even though they'd stopped all those times, they still hurt. As he stretched, she too removed herself from the vehicle, prompting him to smile when she said she had to go to the bathroom again.


	5. Chapter 5: Lunch

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History.**

**A/N: Hey guys! I'd like to apologize for how long it's taken me to update. I originally wanted to update last week, but I had other ideas of where to take the storyline and so long story short- I wrote at least five different Chapter 5's and this one turned out the best. **

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed or put my story on alert. That makes me so happy, you have no idea. :)**

**Much love! **

**PS: Review if you like. Then you could make me happy too! :)**

Chapter 5- Lunch

They were at lunch. It was a late lunch, and Jasper was _so_ hungry. They had told Maggie's parents about their predicament, and to his surprise, they didn't freak out. Well- not in a way that Jasper expected. Colonel Winnock asked him at least a thousand questions and made him feel like crap for getting Maggie pregnant. It wasn't exactly all _his_ fault, it was partially her fault too. It takes two, as the old saying goes. But it turned out ok, kind of.

The Colonel practically begged him to ask Maggie to marry him, and Jasper couldn't say no, but he tried. He tried because he wasn't sure what Maggie would say. But he ended up agreeing with him about asking her. The pressure was way too much. He was a Colonel, and Jasper was...Jasper.

"So, Bartlett, are you planning on asking her to marry you?" he asked.

"Um, truthfully, sir, we aren't together so I don't think she'd agree to it, sir," Jasper gulped.

"Bartlett, I want what's best for Margaret," Colonel Winnock moved so he was sitting on the edge of his desk. "Any father wants what's best for their daughter, or son, as you'll learn soon. And I know she might be at odds about whether or not she wants to be in a relationship with you, but she's smart. She knows what's right and what's wrong. Trust me and ask,"

"Ok- sir,"

"Now, I want you to marry her before the baby comes, and if there is a problem," He stood up. "I'll talk to her about it. Do you understand me, Bartlett?" Jasper nodded quickly.

"Yes, sir," Colonel Winnock smiled and stuck his hand out to Jasper, who shook it.

"Good man, Bartlett," He squeezed Jasper's hand, making him cringe. "I look forward to calling you my son,"

He shook out of the memory as they waited for the food to get there. He told the guy to put a rush on the order, but that happened a good five minutes ago.

"Jasper," Maggie scolded. "That doesn't make them put _any_ rush on it,"

"I know, but the fact that I told him to makes me feel better," She rolled her eyes and pulled her cell phone out.

"I can't believe they were so ok with it," she said looking at him. "Are you sure my dad didn't hit you or something?" Jasper laughed and shook his head.

"No, Maggie. He just asked me a bunch of questions," She fidgeted with her phone and finally decided to type something, but he knew she was faking; she seemed kind of nervous. Her eyes came back up to look at him.

"What kind of questions?"Jasper smirked at her and she dropped eye contact. "Do I want to know?"

"What do you think he asked me?"

"I don't know, I was asking you," Jasper laughed again.

"He just asked me what I was going to do, basically,"

"What you were going to do? What does that mean?"

"I think you know what that means, baby mama,"

"Oh, fine," she sighed. She put her phone back into her purse and looked around. "I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back,"

"Ok," Jasper said. He watched her go and suddenly realized how much he loved her. He loved her so much, it hurt him. Everything she did seemed to only make it hurt more, like a dagger to the chest. He breathed out and tried not to lose himself in his heartbreak.

He needed a plan, is what he needed. He needed to get her back. He needed to make her tell him that she still wanted him to be there for her, and that she loved him. But, he knew it might be really hard to make her say those words. She was stubborn and very emotional. Probably those pregnancy hormones.

"Here you are," a familiar voice said. "Chili cheese fries with extra cheese," Jasper looked at the man in shock, partially because he actually rushed the order, and because it was someone he knew. Henry. Henry Griffin.

"Henry?" Jasper laughed. "What are you doing here?" Henry laughed.

"I saw you come in. I'm sitting over there," Henry pointed to a place somewhere, but Jasper didn't look.

"No way, that's _so_ weird," Jasper was standing now, and he gave his cousin a hug. "So what are you doing in DC? I thought you were in India or Turkey or something,"

"I was in Russia," Henry corrected as Jasper sat back down. Henry made himself at home and sat across from him. "And I came for Christmas because Uncle Bryan wanted me to,"

"Really?" Jasper asked. That hurt. His cousin was easier to get in contact with than him? And his dad didn't even bother asking him to come?

"Yeah," Henry clasped his hands together and Jasper started to eat nervously. "So where's Maggie? I saw her come in with you,"

"She went to the bathroom," Henry nodded and Jasper grabbed the salt container. He shook it over the fries.

"Are you guys still broken up?" Jasper breathed out.

"Yeah,"

"Hey, it's ok. I'm sure if you just talk to her you'll be able to get her back,"

"Yeah, well, there's a complication now,"

"A complication?" Henry raised his eyebrow, and Jasper nodded.

"She's pregnant," His cousin's mouth shaped into an 'o' and Jasper nodded again.

"Well, how is that a complication? Shouldn't that make it easier?"

"It technically should, but I don't think she likes me anymore,"

"Then why would she come here with you?"

"Because she's hungry? I don't know, Henry,"

"Well, why did she come to DC with you?"

"I came with _her_. What's with all the questions?" Jasper snapped. He immediately regretted it, and Henry's eyes softened. Jasper leaned back into the cushioning of the booth. "Sorry, I'm just under a lot of stress right now,"

"It's ok, Jasper," Henry ate a fry and Jasper eyed them. He was starving, but now he couldn't eat. He couldn't eat because Maggie was the reason for his stress. She was so confusing. She makes it seem like she's in love with him and then she's all defensive and guarded. He wished he had someone to talk to about her- someone who'd understand. Henry Griffin was not one of those people, but he was the best one to share his problems with at the moment.

"You know, she told me that she regretted breaking up with me but she's so distant it's like she didn't mean it,"

"I'm sure she's just confused right now, Jasper,"

"Confused?" Jasper asked in an almost mocking way. "She's definitely not confused,"

"Come on, Jasper. She's pregnant and you're broken up, wouldn't that make you confused if you were her?"

"I guess… but I'm not her, so I don't know," Henry sighed.

"There's something else that's bothering you, isn't there?" Jasper nodded.

"Her dad wants me to ask her to marry me and I couldn't tell him no,"

"Because you're still in love with her," Henry spoke as if it were perfectly normal and alright. "So how are you going to do this? How are you going to make her know that you still love her?"

"Henry, she hates me, I'm certain of it,"

"Jasper, she doesn't hate you,"

"How do you know? You're not the one who was with her for two years, the one who had to deal with all her crap for two years. You're not the one who had to watch her break your heart because she had some weird thing going on in her mind that you couldn't control," Jasper started to yell and he closed his eyes with pain.

"It's ok, Jasper," Henry touched his arm and Jasper opened his eyes. He was now crying. He hated himself. Why couldn't he be a normal human being and not cry at ridiculous moments in his life?

"Henry, it's just so hard to understand her," Henry nodded and dug into his pocket. A moment later, he put something on the table in front of him. It was a ring. The ring he'd gotten for Maggie; the one he was going to use to propose.

"You might need this, then," Jasper took the ring into his hand and fingered the diamond. It was small, but he knew that Maggie would have loved it anyway. She loved everything he gave her.

"Why'd you keep it, Henry? I told you that I didn't want it,"

"Jasper, you and I both know that I won't need it. I'm always travelling, and anyway- it's always been for Maggie, not for someone else,"

"Thanks for keeping it," Jasper managed to say.

"Yeah, that's what brothers do," He smiled weakly and put the ring in his pocket.

"But how am I supposed to just ask her? She won't say yes,"

"Just tell her that it was a promise you made to her dad, and she'll have to go along with it," Jasper opened his mouth to reply, but Maggie was now standing at the table, and Henry was attempting to eat the fry.

"Oh- hey baby mama," Jasper said nervously. She looked at him and then at Henry, who was smiling and waving at her.

"Henry- what are you doing here?"

"I came for Christmas," Henry stood up and Maggie gave him a hug instantly.

"It's good to see you again,"

"Yeah, it's good to see you too," Henry backed away from the hug and Maggie looked at Jasper.

"The bathroom was horribly unsanitary,"

"Did you go?" She shook her head and closed her eyes, obviously recalling the filth of the room.

"There was toilet paper _all_ over the place," she said with great frustration. "And there was water-"

"Ok, it's ok," Jasper stood up. "We'll go to my dad's or something so you can go,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's no problem," She looked like she was thinking about it by the way she contorted her face.

"Are you sure? You were hungry and-"

"Mags, it's fine," Jasper insisted. She sighed and nodded.

"I'll be by the car," Then she started to go. Jasper looked at Henry who was nodding with approval.

"Go be the hero, Jasper. She needs you,"

"The hero?"

"If you could see the way she looked at you, you'd know that she needs you,"

"What if she doesn't need a hero? What if she actually does hate me like I said?"

"Just go, Jasper, I'll see you at Uncle B's house later,"

"Hopefully in one piece," Henry shook his head and laughed.

"It'll be fine. Just be yourself,"

"I will," Jasper stated as he started to walk away.


	6. Chapter 6: Second Thoughts

**Disclaimer: I do not own Unnatural History.**

**A/N: Hey guys! So I've had a TON of school work to do for the last few weeks, and I haven't been able to write very much in my spare time. That's why I haven't updated in what seems like a decade. But I will be updating weekly from now on… I hope. **

**Please review if you like what you're reading- it makes me happy :) **

**Much love! **

Chapter 6- Second Thoughts

Jasper stepped out into the winter afternoon and was hit with the cold air instantly. He liked seeing his breath in the breeze; no matter the fact that his face was frozen solid for the majority of the time he was in this type of weather.

He remembered when he was younger, he'd build snowmen in the snow and his mom would make him take a bath after because he got the snow all over him even though he was wearing everything that was ever invented for kids to wear in the snow. Smiling at the thought, his mind drifted to what his kid would do in the winter. He imagined that he and Maggie would dress them up in a big coat and a hat with matching mittens (knowing Maggie) and they'd wear boots that made sure their feet stayed warm. But would they be like him in the winter? Would they build snowmen? Would they be forced to take a bath after? Probably not, knowing how much Maggie would advise them against staying outside for too long so they wouldn't catch anything.

He looked towards his car and that's when he saw her-Maggie. She was leaning against his car, her back against it and her legs out so that her back seemed to be arched. Her baby bump was clearly visible, and Jasper looked at her overall. She was beautiful- more beautiful than when they were together. Much more beautiful. In fact, the bump only enhanced how beautiful she was. It was _his_ baby inside. He was a part of her. He felt kind of special. He was inside her, and there was no way anyone would ever be able to change that.

He thought about the ring that was burning a hole into his pocket, and then he thought about how he'd ask. There were at least a thousand possibilities of how. _"Will you marry me?"_ was too bland, and too inappropriate for their situation. Then there was "_Maggie, your dad wants us to get married, so will you?" _That was too straightforward and almost emotionless. Nothing was coming to him. Every time he attempted to think of even how she'd respond, he realized that maybe this wasn't a good idea. Maybe telling her that they had to get married was as idiotic as thinking that there was no way she'd get pregnant even though they had unprotected sex all the time.

"Are you ok, Jasper?" Maggie asked. It was then that he realized that he'd been driving and he didn't even know where to. He blinked a few times out of his thoughts and then focused on where he was going. He seemed to be driving towards his dad's, but when he checked over his mind, he found out that his mind wasn't even sure where he was driving.

"Uh, yeah," he responded. He looked over at her briefly and saw skepticism on her face. "I'm just- thinking."

"Thinking," she repeated using that skeptical tone. "About what? You've had that look on your face for ten minutes."

"I know," He smacked the steering wheel with his hand. "It's just- I was thinking about something big."

"Oh,"

"Yeah," he breathed. They were quiet, and Jasper almost knew when she'd ask him what he was thinking about. He had just pulled into his dad's driveway, and that's when he anticipated it.

"What were you thinking about?" Jasper put the car into park and his mind was flashing through the scenarios like mini-movies all strung together in order of their preference. He didn't want to tell her. Most of the ways she reacted were angry looks or screaming matches. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He couldn't because he didn't want to hurt her.

"Nothing," he shrugged. He unbuckled and she continued to stare him down.

"Jasper," She touched his arm, making him melt both inside and out. "You can tell me."

"No," he pretended it wasn't a big deal. "It's nothing, baby mama. It's nothing."

"You said it was big," she quoted. She was silent for a moment, but that's when it came out. "What did my father talk to you about?" Inside, Jasper was yelling at himself. Now would have been the appropriate time to tell her. Now would have been the _right_ time.

"How do you know it has to do with your dad? I could have been thinking about something like… Henry."

"Henry," she laughed. "Yeah, Jasper- you'd think that hard about Henry Griffin. Your face looked like you saw a ghost at the same time as you were watching some bad reenactment of Star Wars."

"It did?" She smiled and nodded. There was something about the smile she gave him that told him it was ok. It was perfectly ok to tell her. But he couldn't. He couldn't tell her because he was afraid of everything and anything that could have happened. He was afraid of _her_. "I'm sorry you had to look at it."

"Aw," She slapped his arm. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Apologize for something you didn't know you were doing. It wasn't a big deal, you know. It was just…bizarre."

"Bizarre," Jasper coughed. "Is that supposed to make me tell you what I was thinking about?"

"No," she shook her head. He took advantage of the awkwardness of the situation and opened his car door.

"You still have to go to the bathroom, right?"

"Yes," she sighed. He got out of his car and shut the door by slamming it. He was frustrated at himself, but he couldn't let her know that. He didn't tell her. He didn't tell her that they had to get married. He didn't tell her that she was the only person he was ever going to love. He was weak, and he always would be. He was a pitiful human being.


	7. Chapter 7: Accidentally Eavesdropping

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History. **

**A/N: So I know I've been writing in Jasper's point of view for this whole story, but when I started to write this chapter, I had a deep desire to write from Maggie's point of view and it actually turned out pretty good. I hope you don't hate me for changing point of views, but I will be going back to Jasper in the next chapter. I hope you like. :)**

**Much love!**

Chapter 7- Accidentally Eavesdropping

(Maggie POV)

As soon as the door to the Bartlett house opened, Maggie realized that her pregnancy hormones were on overdrive, and a result of this was the fact that she was both famished and dizzy- two things that when mixed with her turned into a vomiting spell. So, she excused herself quickly from Mr. Bartlett and flew up the stairs to the closest bathroom she knew of.

It wasn't the most awkward thing she'd ever done; throwing up in Jasper's old bathroom, but it was definitely kind of strange seeing it so empty and different than it had been. It was now a guest room, but she'd had only about five seconds to examine the room before she really had to close the door to the restroom.

Morning sickness had been the first three months of her pregnancy; she didn't see why it had to come back randomly during her second trimester. Five months of this and she was already sick and tired of all of the symptoms. First it was the throwing up, but then the back aches and all of the mood swings kicked in and she knew she was done for. Even being tired all the time didn't cover up the fact that her life was a living hell. She didn't have anyone to share it with, so she had to hold it all in, and that was the worst part of her daily life for the past five months.

She had a lot she was holding in. There was a lot of pain and anxiety, but there was also a large amount of fear. Fear that she'd be an overall failure or maybe that she'd do something wrong and lose the baby. Fear that she'd never be good enough for Jasper ever again. She wanted him. She wanted him to hold her like he used to and tell her that everything was ok, which deep down she knew it was, but she needed to hear it from him. She needed to hear that he knew everything was ok even if they weren't together or even friends. She just wanted him to help her.

When she flushed the toilet for the second time, she knew she'd have to explain to them that she'd been going through morning sickness. They'd probably understand, at least she hoped they would. But that wasn't all that she did in that bathroom. She also cried for a good five minutes. All over the fact that she was pregnant and she was too afraid to tell Jasper that she wanted him to be there for her.

She loved him, and she knew he was still in love with her, but if he were to ask her to be his girlfriend again, she didn't know what she would do. It seemed to her that she should know what to do. She loved him, and she was pregnant. It was an obvious decision. But her stubbornness was what was holding her back. Sometimes she wished she didn't have to pee on that stick. Maybe then she wouldn't be pregnant and all emotionally out of whack. She knew better, though. The stick had nothing to do with her body's condition.

As she stepped down the stairs ever so carefully, she listened out for talking, and was rewarded by the sound of Jasper arguing very loudly with someone, who she wasn't sure of yet. So, curiosity killing her, she stopped and listened.

"I don't think you know how difficult it is for me to just ask my pregnant ex girlfriend to marry me. We're not together right now. How do you think she'll take it? She'll probably flip out on me and never talk to me again." He had to ask her to marry him? _No way._ She needed to get away. She needed to get away before he had the opportunity. There was no way she'd allow it to happen. She didn't want it to happen. It was like a really bad dream where you can't run away from a monster, but you try to anyway. She really needed to get away from this monster before Jasper got hurt.

"Jasper, it's not that difficult," Henry's voice said smoothly. "Just tell her you want what's best for her and the baby."

"Henry, this is Maggie we're talking about; Maggie on pregnancy hormones. I don't think it's that easy." She stifled a laugh at the remark, but still felt the knot in her hungry stomach getting tight. This was going to be so difficult to get out of. How would she get out of him asking her? And why didn't she want him to ask her? She'd been dreaming of it since they broke up and now she didn't want it? What was wrong with her?

"What happened to your dad?" Henry asked suddenly. Maggie started back down the stairs again, her mind in a complete state of disarray and her heart trying to tell her mind what was going on. She didn't know which to listen to. The logical thing was that they weren't even dating anymore- don't let him ask. But for some reason, her heart was dying to hear him ask her to marry him. Maybe it was because that was why she broke up with him in the first place and it felt like if he asked her; it would all get rewound back to where it had been before. Before she was such an idiot and broke it off with him.

"He, uh, he went to the bathroom or something."

"So are you just going to not ask? Because Maggie needs you."

"Will you stop with that, Henry? She doesn't need me that much."

"Yes she does, Jasper. She's pregnant and she's scared. Even I can see that." She stopped again. Was Henry Griffin a mind reader? No, he wasn't. Mind readers don't exist. They're scientifically improbable.

"Henry, I want to marry her and everything, but I just don't think she's ready. She's still kind of emotional about everything and her being pregnant doesn't change that." It was then that she decided that she did love him, and she would consider marrying him because of the baby and wanting security. But would she actually marry him? Would she allow herself to commit to something like that all because of the baby?

"If you don't do it soon, you might end up losing her, Jasper."

"What are you talking about? I'm not going to lose her-" That was when Maggie realized that she'd been subconsciously walking into the room. Jasper stopped talking when she got close and Henry started inching away towards the living room. "Oh, hey. So you didn't hear that did you?"

"Um," Maggie's better judgment told her to lie, but she kind of wanted to tell the truth, to make him ask. It wouldn't have been that bad, would it? Marrying Jasper and then giving birth to their baby. They could be a family, like it was supposed to be. But something seemed off about the whole thing. They were broken up, why would Jasper even be talking about such a subject? He should have been thinking about getting back together with her if anything, not rushing into marriage because of a baby.

"Mags?" he interrupted her from debating her response further.

"Huh?" He smirked and she tried to not get completely broken by his smile. It was so safe, it was so... _hot_.

"You ok? You like spaced out."

"I'm fine," she nodded quickly. "Just… really hungry. Does your dad have any cheeseburgers and hot sauce?" She began to look around the room she was standing in as if it would tell her the answer to her question.

"Whoa, cheeseburgers?" he asked, obviously amused at her stupid craving. Though she was hardcore vegetarian and horribly against consuming meat, since getting pregnant she'd had several "secret" cheeseburgers. Maybe it was because she lacked the right amount of protein, or maybe it was because she really liked cheeseburgers secretly, but she craved them. She craved them so much that once she left her apartment at one in the morning to go to a fast food restaurant to buy one. And she ate it with much enthusiasm.

"Jasper, I'm pregnant," She placed a hand on the bump. "Haven't you heard of cravings?" He nodded slowly, smiling again.

"Yeah, but wouldn't you rather be having a tofurger or something?" She shook her head and looked around the kitchen some more, this time trying to seem like she wasn't too interested in looking at him. But she couldn't help herself. Jasper Bartlett was one fine specimen of a man and there was no refuting it any longer. She thought he was really cute- no _hot_- and she wanted him.

"No, I want a cheeseburger, Jasper. With hot sauce. You have no idea how much I crave that." She swore she was going crazy when her mind tried to tell her that she told him she craved _him_ rather than the cheeseburger. Luckily, she must not have said that, because he smiled again, something he wouldn't have done if she would have told him that she craved him.

"Cheeseburger. Ok." Mr. Bartlett came in shortly after the exchange, and Maggie felt suddenly kind of strange. He greeted her as if she was one of his own- he gave her a hug. She was flattered, but she didn't understand in the least.

"Hi Maggie," he greeted. She smiled.

"Hey Mr. B." He stepped further back from his close distance to her and she glanced over at Jasper through her peripheral vision. He was still standing by her, still causing her to feel completely guilty about everything she was thinking about him. "So what are you cooking? It smells good." She was trying to erase her thoughts, but it wasn't really working. She was, however, surprised that the scents weren't giving her nausea, as many smells had been as of late. It was actually a pleasant smell.

"I'm making a roast," he stated. Maggie nodded and Jasper made a sound that made Maggie look at him curiously. "Your parents are coming over for dinner." Jasper made another sound and Maggie forced herself to not laugh at it.

"Ahem," her ex boyfriend cleared his throat. "Why? Why are they coming over?"

"Tradition," Mr. Bartlett said with a smile. "We've done it for two years so we figured we'd do it again." Maggie knew why Jasper made yet another sound. He really didn't want to see her dad again. Jasper really didn't have a picture perfect relationship with him like she did. But aside from that, _they_ were the reason her parents came over for dinner. Their relationship was the reason their parents got to be so close.

"Oh, well, when are they going to be here?" Maggie asked.

"Four," At that moment, Maggie's hunger pangs got so bad that her stomach growled at her. Jasper, who was looking at her, must have heard the pleas coming from within her because he smiled.

"Um, dad, do you have any cheeseburgers?"


	8. Chapter 8: Talk

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History.**

Chapter 8- Talk

(Jasper POV)

He shrugged his coat off as he sat down on the guest bed in his old bedroom. Jasper still couldn't believe his dad would just get rid of everything he'd left behind when he went to college. But it didn't really bother him that much; it was just kind of sad knowing his dad didn't want to keep any of him around after he left.

"So did you get the nail polish?" Henry asked, stepping out of the bathroom. Jasper nodded and held up the small blue bottle.

"Yep,"

"What are you waiting for then? She probably has to go to sleep soon," Jasper sighed at his cousin's ability to be so pushy.

"Maybe I could just wait until-"

"No, you're not waiting," Henry cut him off. "Maggie needs to know that you're going to be there for her _now_." He grabbed his hand forcefully and lifted him off of the bed. Jasper groaned.

"Ok, fine. I'll go talk to her. There's no guarantee that I'll ask, though. If it's not the right timing then I won't." Henry gave him a look, but Jasper just started for the door.

"Hey Jasper?" Henry stopped him.

"Yeah Henry?"

"Do you think I should stay?" Jasper rose an eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you mean? Like stay in America or…"

"Yeah, stay in America. Do you think I should?"

"I don't know, Henry. It's up to you. If you want to travel and have your Henry fun then you should go ahead and do it, but if you're tired of travelling then no one's stopping you from staying." Henry smiled and started to climb into his hammock.

"Thanks Jasper," He didn't know what to say to that, so he just left his old bedroom and started down the hall. He honestly hoped Maggie wouldn't throw him out if he slipped up and actually did propose that very night. He barely registered the fact that it was the night before Christmas Eve when his hand knocked on her door.

"If that's you Jasper, you can come in," Maggie's voice was close, so he twisted the doorknob carefully in case she was right behind the door. She wasn't, though, she was standing by her bed looking at her phone. She was wearing her pajamas; one of the two missing tee shirts he had found lost the day she left, and her sweats that drooped below her waistline, allowing the protruding part of her body to be highlighted. She looked at him and smiled, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of _his_ tee shirt on _her_ body.

"_You_ have my tee shirt," He pointed at her and she looked down. "I've been looking for it forever." She looked at him again and shook her head.

"I took it when I left." She sat down on the bed and he did the same after shutting the door.

"And you wear it to bed?"

"Believe it or not, this is the only way I can sleep, so don't make fun of me." Jasper could have gotten over-the-top emotional about how sleeping with his tee shirt on was the only way she could sleep, but who was he kidding? He found one of her socks under the bed (how it got there was still up for debate) and he kept it in his nightstand for those nights he couldn't stop thinking about her. Just holding it in his hand was usually enough for him to fall asleep.

"You miss me that much?" he teased. She rolled her eyes.

"Jasper," She gave him a playful smack in the arm and Jasper laughed.

"I got you something." He held the nail polish out to her and she smiled.

"Thank you, Jasper. This is so sweet."

"Yeah, I figured you'd like it," She examined it for a moment and then looked at him.

"I don't think I should paint my fingernail though."

"Why?"

"Because the fumes make me gag," she stated without any hint of emotion. Jasper laughed.

"Then don't. Just save it in case you have a need to paint your nail." She smiled and looked at the gift for a moment before she set it down on the night stand beside her.

"So is that all you came in here for? To give me this nail polish? Or is there something else?" She seemed to be reading his mind. Jasper wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I think we need to talk." She looked away from him and at her hands.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Um," he paused and thought about everything he could possibly talk to her about. "Stuff. I mean, we haven't talked since we broke up except for when you told me that you're pregnant."

"Well, what do you want to talk about? Anything in particular?"

"No," he shrugged. She laughed and Jasper looked at her. "What?"

"You want to talk and then you don't have anything you want to talk about," She shook her head and continued to smile. "How's work? You're still answering phone calls and getting coffees?"

"Last month they promoted me to assistant," he said, a hint of optimism showing.

"That's good. You deserved a promotion, you worked so hard."

"You think so?" She nodded and he smiled. "What about you? You're still working on that doctorate? And still working at that children's museum?"

"Yes and yes," she sighed. "I'm thinking about getting another job though. I'm going to need more money with this baby coming." Jasper cringed thinking about her overworking herself. If anyone should be overworking themselves, it should be him. He was the one who was the cause of her getting pregnant, and he was the man in the relationship. He was _supposed_ to provide for her. It was his obligation.

"I could… help," He didn't want it to sound like he was forcing his obligation on her, so he used selective language.

"Help?"

"Yeah, I could give you some money. I mean, it's my kid too," She bit her lower lip, and he knew she was probably struggling with the fact that they weren't together and that taking his money would be slightly awkward. "It's like when people get a divorce and they have a kid. The person who doesn't have custody sends the other parent money." She laughed. _Bad analogy_. That was a really bad analogy. He regretted even saying it out loud.

"Anyone knows that, Jasper. But I'm flattered that you'd want to give me your money."

"Well why wouldn't I?" She shrugged and Jasper knew it was time for a topic change. It was making her uncomfortable. "Do you remember when we ran into each other at the grocery store?"

"Of course," she smiled. "How could I forget how I just told you that you looked cute?" He laughed.

"You looked pretty cute too, by the way. You still do." She didn't say anything, but she still smiled, meaning she must have been really flattered by his remark. Then there was an awkward silence and Jasper looked around the room for some sort of relief from the tension. He was sitting right next to the woman he'd been in love with for more than half of his life and he just told her that he thought she was cute. That was enough to make any situation uncomfortable.

"Jasper?"

"Yeah?"

"You weren't too uncomfortable when my dad started asking me all those questions about the baby were you?" He looked at her and shook his head.

"It was a little awkward when I didn't know what to say when your mom asked what the due date was, but other than that it was fine." Maggie smiled.

"April twenty seventh," Jasper nodded and popped his lips.

"Yep, I know that now." She laughed and Jasper smiled. Again, silence covered them and he felt like he should break it. "Hey Maggie?"

"Mmm?" He took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was about to do.

"Why didn't you tell me when you found out about the baby?"

"I told you, Jasper, I was scared. It was right after we broke up, literally like three days after, and I was really scared of what you would do."

"But I wouldn't have done anything. I want to be here for you. I want to be there for the baby," He paused and looked more intently at her. "I would have helped you. Like you needed me to help you today," She looked at him curiously, prompting him to explain himself. "I know why it took you so long when you went to the bathroom. You were throwing up." She blinked and her jaw dropped.

"How… how do you know?"

"Well, the way you kind of just ran up the stairs and took a good ten minutes was kind of a giveaway." She laughed, but Jasper couldn't support the moment with even a smile. His stomach was in knots.

"So that's why you've been so nice to me? Because you couldn't be there with me for the four months I've known about them?"

"That's not all why," he said. "I just… I don't know, Maggie. I love this baby. I've loved it since you told me, and I just really don't want everything to get screwed up because of something I do or say to you."

"But everything won't get screwed up. It's going to be fine," Maggie breathed out and when she spoke again, it was soft, "But would you promise me something?"

"Yeah, anything,"

"Promise you'll be here for the baby." He nodded.

"Yeah, of course I will." She smiled.

"I just want them to know what their daddy's like. I don't want this baby to grow up without you, especially if it's a boy, I don't think I could teach a boy everything their daddy could." _Daddy_. The word sank in, and it settled in right next to the words _marry_ and _me_. But he couldn't say anything because she suddenly started to laugh.

"What?" he asked with a smile on his face. She didn't respond, but she took his hand and placed it on the bump. He immediately felt the reason and he smiled. Their baby was kicking.

"They like kicking," she said. "A lot,"

"Do they keep you up?" She nodded and he felt her hand moving so it was bumping up against his.

"All night sometimes," Jasper held his hand there, allowing the moment catch up to him. His hand was literally mere inches from his kid. _His kid_. He was going to be a father. There was going to be another person in the world who looked like him, acted like him, and sounded like him. There was going to be another person that was genetically bound to his and Maggie's brilliance via genetics.

"Wow," he breathed. He looked at his baby mama, who was smiling. He removed his hand slowly, not really wanting to take it away from her warm skin and their baby. "You need to get some sleep. I'm sorry I've been in here for like half an hour." He stood up and Maggie sighed.

"It's ok, Jasper. It was nice to talk again." He nodded and they exchanged a smile. Jasper walked back to the door slowly, almost begging her to ask him to stay longer. He wanted to. He wanted to spend forever with her. He could do that. "Hey Jasper?" He whirled around, really glad she stopped him.

"Yeah Mags?" She was under the covers of the bed already.

"Would you stay with me tonight?" She just asked him to stay the night with her. She wanted him to sleep next to _her_ on _that_ bed. He could hardly breathe.

"Um," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sure, if you want me to." She nodded once and maintained a serious look on her face. She lay down and he walked over to the opposite side of where she lay.

As soon as his head hit the pillow, she turned the lamp off and he turned to look at her. It had been four months of not being like this. Four months of living alone. He didn't dare go under the covers or even be remotely close to her. She might not want that. Maggie turned to look at him and he saw her smile through the dark.

"Thank you," she whispered. Jasper felt her grab his hand and he almost pulled it away, but he didn't. He liked the feeling of their hands being together like that.

"I missed you," he whispered. But he wasn't talking about actually missing her; he was talking about missing _this_. Missing lying beside her and not going to sleep until she was out, missing holding her hand, and missing the way she looked when she woke up in the morning. Missing how she kicked him in the leg in the middle of the night and missing feeling her breathing against him when she rolled up into his arms because she was cold. She moved closer to him and turned back onto her back so she was looking up at the ceiling.

"I missed you too," That was the last thing she said. She fell asleep and Jasper watched the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest as if he'd never get to see it ever again.


	9. Chapter 9: Nightmare

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History. **

Chapter 9- Nightmare

"Jasper," Maggie's voice was what woke him up. He opened his eyes and realized that he wasn't in his dad's house. He was at his apartment. _Weird_.

"What?" He sat up and Maggie came up to the side of the bed holding a box.

"Here," She placed the box in front of him and he immediately tore into it. Inside was a picture frame with an image in the center of it. It was a picture of a little girl. She had light, wavy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, something he had to smile at, though he didn't know why. She had to be at least two and a half, if not three. He looked at Maggie again and shook his head.

"Um… what's this, Maggie?" She exhaled and pointed to the image.

"Your daughter, Jasper." He squinted down at the picture and shook his head again.

"But you're... you... where is she?"

"I gave her up," Maggie said simply. "Because you weren't ready. And because I wasn't financially stable." For some reason, that made him really mad. Maggie _not_ financially stable? How was that even possible?

"But I told you I'd help," Jasper yelled. "Where is she?"

"She's gone, there's nothing you can do to get her back," Maggie looked pretty mad at the statement. She yanked the picture out of his hands and started to walk away from him angrily. "And you weren't even willing to be there when she was born."

He sat up and felt himself breathing fast. It was a dream. It was all a dream. He looked around the oddly quiet guest room and then at Maggie, who was still asleep, her hand still intertwined in his.

He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to erase the fear that had gone over him in that moment. It was ok. His life wasn't over. _Yet_. He lay back down and looked at the bump. His baby was in that bump. He wanted to say something to them, but should he risk waking Maggie up?

"I love you," he suddenly whispered to the darkened room. He was talking to the baby, but the words could also be very much so applied to Maggie. "And I'm not going to let anything happen to you." The baby didn't respond, but he knew it would have if it only knew what an awesome daddy they had. Talking to the baby forced him to move closer to her, however, and he placed his free hand on the bump ever so carefully. It was so warm, so full of life.

"I love you so much," he whispered. "You're so perfect." He didn't need to see them or know what they were to know how perfect they were. They were his, and that was what made them perfect. He relaxed himself and turned to look at his baby mama with his full body facing her.

The way she slept was somehow enough to make him want to be back in Connecticut with her on their bed together. It was almost like they were, but she wasn't sleeping like she used to, and Jasper was uncomfortably positioned on top of the covers. He exhaled and shut his eyes.

What was he doing? How did he allow this to happen? How did he let her go? Why didn't he argue with her when she broke up with him? Why didn't he tell her no when she said it "wasn't working"? Why didn't he tell her that they were obviously meant to be together?

The questions bounced around in his head, all of them mocking him. Mocking him because he was twenty three years old, and he had managed to get himself caught up in an unexpected pregnancy with the girl of his dreams. Yes. It was happening to him. And everything wasn't as ok as it had seemed a few days ago when she told him to meet her over coffee. Everything wasn't as ok as it had seemed in the car, when she was asleep and she was mumbling nonsense to him, and it wasn't as ok as it had been when he could feel his baby kicking.

No. Nothing was how it should have been. Maggie wasn't anywhere close to his. She should have been. She should have been his girlfriend in the least. It appeared to him that she wanted him again. She wanted him to sleep next to her- that should have been something.

He started picturing his future, but every time he got to the part with his kid being born, it was different. Sometimes he was there and sometimes he wasn't. The times he wasn't killed him, just like the nightmare he just had did. He peeled his eyes open quickly after remembering the dream he'd had to ensure what was real actually was. There was no way he'd be getting any sleep whatsoever. Not with him still holding Maggie's hand and pressing his other hand against his kid.

"You're a good daddy," She was looking at him and inching her way up so she was sitting. He removed the hand from her stomach and sat up. "Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?"

"It doesn't matter," he shrugged. "I love them no matter what." She smiled and looked at the clock.

"It's six thirty. You can go if you want," Maggie released his hand, making him suddenly feel empty.

"What if I want to stay here?" he asked. She seemed to be thinking about it for a moment, but she turned the light on rather than answering him.

"Do you really want to stay?" she asked with disbelief.

"Yeah," Maggie sighed and nodded.

"Ok," She sat there silently for a moment and Jasper just looked at her. She was _really_ beautiful in the morning, as he knew. Her hair was kind of messy and her eyes had this sparkle in them that they never really had otherwise. "Usually right now I'd read to them."

"You read to our kid?" he teased. She smiled slightly and leaned over the edge of the bed to grab a book. When she showed it to him, he laughed. "Narnia?"

"Sometimes I read Jules Verne, but I left Journey to the Center of the Earth at my apartment." He laughed again.

"You seriously read to them?" She nodded and opened the book. "My mom used to read to me when I was younger. I used to beg her to read Narnia to me." Maggie bit her lip and flipped through the book to a certain point.

"I'm not going to leave like your mom did, Jasper." It was like she was reading his mind. Their eyes met and he nodded thankfully.

"Thank you," She started to read to the bump, but it was like she was reading to him. Her voice was so peaceful and so easy to listen to, he felt like he was in the book. Just all three of them in a magical place that was safe.

She stopped reading after about forty five minutes, and they just sat there quietly. Jasper was thinking particularly hard about how his mom left and how hurt he was by that. But it felt emptier now because he knew it wouldn't happen to his kid. His kid wouldn't be without a mom for thirteen years like he was.

"You ok?" Maggie asked suddenly. Jasper looked at her and shook his head.

"I just... I miss my mom."

"She left because she had to," Maggie grabbed his hand and stroked his thumb carefully. "Not because of anything you did. And I'm sure she misses you, she just doesn't want to hurt you by coming to see you."

"But it wouldn't hurt me if she came," he insisted. Maggie shook her head.

"If she came, then you would be forced to forgive her. And you're still not ready to forgive her." He knew she was right, and he knew it would be pointless to argue with her. So, he just nodded.

"Can I come to the ultrasound?" he asked. "I want to see them." She smiled and took her hand away again.

"Of course you can," He smiled at the response. It was ok. They were ok. Everything was ok. But what wasn't ok was that he still hadn't asked her. It was burning him inside and out.

"Maggie, what about us?" he asked. She looked kind of puzzled for a moment, but then she bit her lip in thought.

"What do you mean _us_?" She closed the book and looked at him more intently.

"I _mean_," Jasper started in for the ring cautiously so he didn't detract her attention to it. "What are we going to do?" She shook her head.

"I don't know," Jasper now had the ring in the palm of his hand. He didn't know how to lead up to the proposal. It was going to be kind of difficult. "But I want you to be there for them."

"But this isn't about the baby, Mags. What about our relationship?" She bit her lip and looked around at her hands and then at the room. "Do you want us to be together?"

"I... I don't know." He swallowed. Was he really about to do it? Should he bring up her dad? Should he bring up the baby? Should he just go all the way and say it's because he's madly in love with her and he couldn't see his life without her? Or maybe he shouldn't do it. What if she started arguing with him right there and he couldn't even get everything out? He bit his lip, hoping that maybe the words would come, but they didn't. He was too much of a chicken to get anything out. "Do _you_ want us to be?"

When he looked at her again rather than telling her flat out, he just shrugged. So it was final. He was a chicken. He wasn't able to ask Maggie to marry him. And if he could, then it would be completely awkward for both of them.

"I don't know," Maggie looked down at her fingers and then at him.

"Jasper, I heard you and Henry talking yesterday. You…" She struggled and Jasper cringed. She heard. She heard him talking to Henry about having to propose. _Crap_.

"It's kind of… hard to explain," he said quickly. She started to fidget with the sheets and he shook his head. "How much did you hear?"

"Most of it," He exhaled anxiously and looked to the right of him for a moment.

"I don't want to ruin this," He gestured between them, "But I… I guess we should think about moving ahead, you know? For our baby and…" The look on her face was enough for him to not continue. She looked completely distraught, if he had to put a word on it, and she held her mouth open.

"Um, Jasper, I don't think I… we… if you're trying to propose then… please don't take this the wrong way, Jazz. I do think we should work on our relationship, but rushing ahead with it and not working on fixing what went wrong isn't exactly ideal." Jasper felt his stomach drop. He'd never be hungry ever again after this day. _Never_. She didn't want him. It was clear.

"Um," He clutched the ring back into his hand and fumbled off of the bed.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Don't be," he sighed. He didn't say anything else, he just left the room. Maybe he acted too soon; on an impulse of feeling something and thinking she felt the same way. Maybe she didn't really feel anything, even after getting so close to him like she did. Maybe the whole situation was too much for him to handle. Maybe he shouldn't try to be with her. Maybe he wasn't meant to be with her at all.


	10. Chapter 10: The Party

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History. **

**A/N: First, I have to say thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! I love you all. :)**

**I'm sorry I'm not updating as quickly as I have been. I've had this horrible writers block and it was so hard to even write this chapter. However, once I finished writing this one, the next came super easy so I have posted both 10 and 11. Woo! Two thumbs up for me! **

**Ms. A- To answer your question about twins: it's just one baby. I'm sorry for being confusing with the language. It made sense when I wrote it but maybe it's just because I know it's only one baby. Anywho… one baby. And they don't know what it is yet.**

Chapter 10- The Party

Jasper sat in his car with his head back against the headrest and his feet relaxing while he waited for Maggie and Henry to exit the house. Somehow, she'd gotten them locked into a party at her parent's house and there was no way he'd be able to get out of it. Not even if he told her that since she rejected him, he shouldn't be expected to go. It was all because she pulled the hormonal _"I'm pregnant"_ card and he couldn't just throw her down like she threw him down, so he grudgingly agreed to be chaperone to this stupid party.

It took half an hour for Maggie to come out, which was strange because she told him she'd be right out to the car and he could go out and wait for only a few minutes. She sat in the passenger's seat quietly for an awkward few minutes until she finally turned to him.

"Don't say anything stupid to my parents," she said. "And make sure Henry doesn't hog the food, you know how he is."

"Yeah," She smiled and lazily put her hands on the bump. Jasper loved how she did that spontaneously all the time. He would have put his hand on it too, but that would have ruined the silent grace about the action. Especially since he was certain she didn't really want to be with him like he wanted to be with her.

"So when's Henry supposed to be out?" He shrugged. He could have yelled at her for being mad at Henry for being late when she herself was late. But he didn't. He knew it would be pointless.

"You never really know with Henry, Maggie. You should know that by now." She rolled her eyes and looked at the clock.

"Well, we're going to be late if he doesn't come out soon. My dad's going to be mad at me if we're late, but if it's for a good reason-" The back door of the vehicle opened and Henry climbed in. Jasper looked back at him.

"Sorry I'm late." Henry buckled himself in and Jasper nodded slowly.

"Maggie's mad at you for being late." Maggie rolled her eyes and Jasper began to drive to her parents' house. It was silent for most of the drive; with the exception of Jasper's mind yelling at him about all kinds of things, most of them referring to Maggie and how he wasn't even able to keep her after getting to sleep next to her the night before.

"What kind of party is this?" Henry cut through the silence. Jasper looked through the rear view at him and then started applying the brakes to his car. They were there.

"Um, I'm not sure, Henry. But it's more than likely a Christmas party." Maggie answered.

They each stood at the door staring at their feet and hands for a good minute. Jasper wasn't really too excited about attending this party. He'd already seen Colonel Winnock for much too long. He really hated being even in the same room as him. It was completely uncomfortable.

"Jasper," Maggie tapped his arm, causing him to look at her.

"Yeah?"

"What I said earlier… when you were trying to ask me…" He shook his head in pain, recalling the rejection.

"Don't bring it up. It's fine. I understand completely." That wasn't completely true, but he wanted to make sure she didn't think he hated her or anything. She might freak out and get all emotional on him.

"But-" The door opened before she could finish. Her mom was standing there smiling.

"Maggie, you came."

"Of course I did," Maggie laughed. She walked in first, followed by Jasper, and then Henry. Jasper felt slightly out of place when Maggie started engaging in conversation with random family members and friends of family members. But he stood next to her the whole time, only because she literally grabbed his hand and dragged him along with her. He didn't have to say anything to her family, but he did have to shake their hands and tell them his name. Most of them seemed really excited about how Maggie was pregnant, so obviously conversation went to that little fact. And as if it couldn't get worse, there had to have been ten people he still hadn't met yet. Maggie had a really large family.

"Oh, Jasper, this is my grandmother." They had been wandering around for about a half an hour when the new interaction began, and Henry was nowhere to be seen. He looked at the small, fragile old woman and forced himself to smile. She held out her hand to shake and he took it, but was shocked when she pulled him down and pinched his cheeks.

"You're so cute I could eat you up." He forced laughter and she continued to pinch him even though he winced and made a sound.

"Nana, I think you're hurting him," Maggie interjected. The woman released his cheeks and Jasper stepped back, hands on the places where she pinched him. She looked at Maggie's bump and put her hands on it.

"That baby of yours is going to be an attractive little thing." Maggie laughed and looked at Jasper for a second.

"Oh, thank you Nana, that's nice of you." Her grandmother removed her hands and looked directly at him, her eyes like a finger that was pointing someone or something out.

"Keep him close to you, honey. He's one hell of a man. I can tell by his cheek structure." Jasper wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he was sure that had to mean he won her approval. Maggie just laughed it off and the old woman walked away.

"Ok, so that was strange," he said. She looked at him and shook her head.

"Nana's always been a little _out_ _there_, Jasper. I hope it's not genetic," He laughed, prompting her to laugh too.

"It's not. Our kid's going to be fine."

"I hope you're right. What happened to Henry?" Jasper looked around and when he couldn't see his cousin, he shrugged.

"I don't know-" Maggie's mom approached and interrupted whatever he was about to say.

"So would you like your presents now or tomorrow?" she asked. Maggie rose an eyebrow and looked at Jasper. She looked back at her mom when Jasper shrugged again. He was getting in that habit. Probably because he thought whatever he had to say wouldn't really help her.

"What presents?"

"Oh, your baby shower presents."

"But I'm not _that_ far along, Mom," Maggie laughed. "I'm only five months."

"Just the same, I don't know if we're going to be able to see you before the baby's born so we wanted to give you some things while you're still here."

"Oh, well that's nice of you. I think it would be fine if we took them off your hands today. Jasper's car has a lot of room in the backseat." She turned to verify with him and he just nodded.

"Then come with me. Nana and I have been wrapping all morning," She talked as they walked and soon, they came upon a fairly large room with a large sum of presents in it. There was nothing wrong with getting gifts; Jasper knew from experience that getting a lot of presents meant less need to buy things. And since this was a baby they were going to be opening for, he was really glad that he didn't have to buy half the crap her family got them. Maggie seemed to be really surprised at the high quantity of gifts, and truthfully, so was he. He was shocked people actually wanted to give them stuff like that.

"Oh, wow, Mom. This is really unexpected." Maggie said.

"Everyone brought one thing. We told them as soon as you left yesterday. We're all so excited about this baby." Jasper saw Maggie's face get a little soft and she reached for his hand, something he could definitely get used to.

"Thank you," she said softly. She squeezed his hand and looked around the room more. "This is so nice of all of you. I really don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything," her mom smiled. "We want you to have a head start with all of this, especially since you're busy with school and work. Worrying about a nursery isn't something you'll have a lot of time for." Jasper was shocked when she curled herself into him, burying her face in his chest. He awkwardly rubbed her back.

Though he didn't know why she had this sudden attraction to him, he had to be supportive of it. Anything that showed she was interested in him was a good thing. Especially when she threw him down earlier that morning. He knew she felt something for him- she had to.

"Hey, it's ok," he said so only she could hear. Her mom suddenly left the room, but he knew she was just being polite. He felt more comfortable without her there anyway. Maggie pulled back from the embrace and he saw her eyes watering and her mascara running. He would have laughed at how funny she looked, but it wasn't the time for laughing.

"They're being so nice to me and I wanted to give the baby away." she stuttered.

"But you're not," he replied. "You're keeping the baby. And you deserve all of this stuff." He wiped the tears off of her cheeks and she grabbed his wrists as they rested there.

"I don't understand why. Why could they be so nice to me when I was going to give the baby away?"

"Because they love you," She closed her eyes and tears escaped quickly, their warmth hitting his fingers and soaking into his skin slowly.

"_How_? How could they love me? I got pregnant and I'm not even with the guy who got me pregnant." Jasper felt a strange pain at that. Like he was supposed to fix it. But he couldn't fix it. He couldn't work himself back up to that emotional state of mind he had been hours before. It hurt too much. She continued to cry, so he moved his hands down.

"Shhh," Jasper pulled her back into a hug, this time rubbing her back with purpose. "It's ok, Maggie. It's ok." He held her there and she cried into him. He felt like he was helping, but he couldn't be sure.

"I just…" she mumbled. "I want to be happy again." He knew what she was talking about, but he didn't say anything. She wanted it to be like it was before too. She wanted to have what they had four months ago, when it was just them and his apartment. She wanted to start over. Jasper wanted that too. He had wanted it for so long; it was insane to even think about it. "Can we talk?" she asked as soon as she re- gathered herself.

"Yeah," She slid herself down against the wall and Jasper did the same. She grabbed his hand and leaned her head into his shoulder. Her fingers began to play with his fingers and he let her. He let her because she used to do that all the time and even just a second of it was enough to send him back to that time.

"I didn't mean to make you upset," she whispered. He didn't know what she was talking about. She could have been talking about a _lot_ of things. "This morning- I didn't mean to make you upset. I just… I'm hormonal and I'm not sure what I want right now." The first bitter thought that came to him was _blame it on the hormones_, but then he got to thinking and he realized that maybe she just needed a little help coming undone to reveal how she really felt. Maybe saying it was the hormones was actually saying that she was regretting everything she said and did before. Maybe all hope wasn't lost.

"Do you know what you want _now_?" She didn't respond immediately, which made him think she didn't. So he just let her rest against him until she was able to say something.

"Go out with me tonight," she stated, not moving at all from her position.

"Where?"

"I think ice skating would suffice." He didn't need her to elaborate. She was giving him an opportunity to show her that he was what she wanted. And he was ready to soak it all up.


	11. Chapter 11: Ice Skating

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History. **

Chapter 11- Ice Skating

Maggie took about fifteen minutes in the bathroom, making Jasper nervous. She said she'd be right out and then they'd go ice skating like she wanted. He knocked cautiously, not knowing why it was taking forever. She opened the door immediately and smiled at him.

"Sorry it took so long. I had a hard time getting these jeans on. I hate being pregnant." She rolled her eyes as she brushed past him to put her clothes down in her bag.

"Why?" he asked. She exhaled and sat down on the bed to put her shoes on.

"Because last week, I was a size smaller than I am now. I'm fat." Jasper laughed and shook his head.

"You're not fat." She smiled up at him.

"You of all people _shouldn't_ think I'm fat, Jasper."

"But you're not. You're just pregnant. That's not fat."

"_This_ is why I'm pregnant," she sighed. "You're too sweet." Jasper scoffed and she stood up. She didn't say anything, but she grabbed her coat and slid it on. Jasper started for the door, but Maggie stopped him before he could leave the room. "I made you this." She held out a scarf. He smiled, but inside he was melting and questioning why he wasn't already married to this woman.

"Wow, thanks baby mama." She wrapped it around his neck and he stared at her the whole time.

"It's your early Christmas present." He laughed.

"I didn't get you anything, though."

"It's fine, Jasper. Just being here with me is enough of a Christmas present." She looked him in the eyes and her hands seemed to have a hard time getting off of him. She finally dropped them and smiled as she stumbled backwards awkwardly. "Um-"

"Are you ready to go then?" She nodded.

The entire way to the ice skating rink, she was looking out the window at the houses with their Christmas lights and their strange inflatables. Snow was falling slightly, making the night seem almost magical.

When they finally got onto the ice, after him asking her if it was ok for her to be ice skating and her insisting that it was fine, she grabbed his arm and held it as they skated. He wasn't that good of an ice skater; he was always tripping on his feet. But Maggie wasn't that good either; she had only picked it up one winter because she thought it would help her clumsiness.

"You haven't fallen yet," he said, looking at her. She smiled.

"I've been practicing."

"You have?" She nodded.

"I found this indoor ice skating rink back in Connecticut and I started going there after we broke up. Even when I found out I was pregnant I went, so I've had about four months of practice." He smiled and she moved closer to him.

"I'm impressed."

"When our baby gets older I'm going to teach them how to ice skate so they don't get clumsy feet like I have." Jasper laughed.

"You're already planning for that? It was literally just thirty hours ago that you didn't want to keep them." She slowed her pace and shook her head.

"I wouldn't have gone through with it. I think it's just a lot for one person to handle- knowing about a baby and not having any idea of what you're doing." She stared at him for a few moments and then returned to glancing down at her feet. "I didn't know what you'd want either. If you wanted them as much as my heart did. That's why I held off the sonogram for as long as I could. I didn't want to get emotionally attached in case I decided to give them up. But it's too late for that, I'm already attached. I love them."

If he was supposed to say something in response to that, he would have, but he didn't know if he was supposed to say anything. He didn't even know what he'd say if it was necessary. He just looked at her like he'd never seen her before. She was so perfect. It hurt to know she didn't want to be with him. And yet here they were, together at an ice skating rink, like two kids, on Christmas Eve.

He looked at her head and smiled at the snowflakes sticking to her hat. She must have noticed his facial expression, because she immediately squinted her eyes at him.

"What? Is there something on my head?"

"No, the snow… it's just making you look really pretty is all." She smiled and slid her hand down to grab his hand.

They talked for a while, but when Maggie started shivering and he heard her teeth chattering, he knew it was time to go. So, he took her out of the rink and as they walked back to his car, he distanced himself from her to see what she would do. She looked at him and then she stopped walking. So, he stopped too and was immediately stunned when she threw a snowball at him. She had a really good throwing arm.

"Oh, I see how it is," He knelt down and gathered some snow into a snowball. Then, he threw it at her and she laughed as she threw another one at him. They went along the sidewalk to his car stopping and throwing snowballs at each other, each of them laughing. Jasper had to stop the battle when they got to his car, however, and she didn't seem to have a huge problem with that.

"You have snow all over your hair," she said, stepping closer to him.

"Yeah, well, you were aiming for my head. I should have called no head shots." She laughed and reached up to brush the snow out of his hair. Her eyes connected with his and she bit her lip as she dusted the snow out.

"Jasper?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we could go on a date or something?" He blinked a few times. A date. An actual date, not like what this was. This was just kind of like them reconnecting and re-getting to know each other, not like they needed to. He was sure they'd be fine if they didn't ever go out or talk. But the fact that she wanted to go on a date was groundbreaking. She _wanted_ to go on a date. She just asked _him_ if _he_ wanted to go on a date with _her_. He knew he must have done something right, especially since she still hadn't moved away from him.

"A date?" he asked, raising his voice an octave. She laughed and nodded.

"Yeah. Like to dinner somewhere." She backed away from him and adjusted her hat.

"Tonight?"

"I'm really hungry." He laughed and pulled his keys out of his pocket.

"Ok, then yeah, let's go." She smiled thankfully.

"Thank you for bringing me skating, Jasper," she said as soon as they got into the car. "It was fun."

"Yeah," he smiled. "It was." They stared at each other for a second again, one of those moments that don't seem to move, and he felt suddenly really awkward. "Ok, where are we going?"

"Not that place we went to lunch at yesterday. Please. That place was _horrible_." He smirked and tried to not laugh.

"Then where?"

"Just drive. I'm sure we'll find something." So he did. He drove, and Maggie would point at places or people and say something about them, but he truthfully wasn't paying any attention. He was soaking in the fact that they were happy again. They were together, going to eat someplace. This was how it used to be, and how he loved it to be. He loved it when it was like this. Easy, safe, and fearless. She finally tapped him on the arm and frantically pointed at a building. He pulled into a free spot in front of it and she turned to smile at him.

"I love eating here."

"I know. When we came here for your eighteenth birthday you kept saying it over and over." She laughed and he looked at his baby mama, _actually_ looked at her. In that moment, he wondered what he did wrong. Why weren't they together? He wanted to sleep by her every night and wake up with her every morning. He wanted to not feel strange around her. He wanted it to be like it was before.

"You ok, Jasper?"

"Um," Jasper turned gaze away from her and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You seemed kind of out of it."

"I'm fine." He shrugged, but she appeared to be skeptical still.

"I'm hungry enough to bypass further questioning. You're lucky I'm pregnant, Bartlett. You'd be in the doghouse otherwise." Jasper smirked and they each got out of his car in a hurry.


	12. Chapter 12: Date

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History. **

Chapter 12- Date

Jasper hadn't really expected to get nervous on the date, especially since it was completely spur of the moment and Maggie was just… Maggie. He had nothing to be nervous about, but he was. He was completely nervous. And there wasn't anything he could do to fix it except for awkwardly sip at his water or fidget with his fork on the table.

Even Maggie seemed to be a little bit nervous about the situation, because she kind of just gazed off into the great unknown distance behind him. He finally gave up and tried to think of something to say to her. But what was there to say? Everything had been said already.

"So…" he sighed.

"So," she breathed. He made eye contact with her.

"Um, _so_…" She laughed.

"Why is this so awkward?" Jasper shrugged.

"Because we're on a _date_ and we haven't been on a date since we were together." She looked kind of sad right then, like she didn't appreciate the fact that he brought it back up and kind of like she didn't enjoy remembering that they weren't together. But he was just speculating.

"Look, Jasper, um," She slid forward in her seat. "I really want to give you this chance. Show me that you're ready to handle me and my pregnancy hormones and everything all over again." He nodded slightly.

"Ok." She smiled and Jasper kind of freaked out. This date was for _him_ to prove to _her_ that he wanted to be with her. He wasn't really prepared for this. He was still really kind of tense about the whole thing.

"How long has it been?"

"How long has what been?" he asked curiously. She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and onto the table and he immediately laughed. "Four and a half months. Last time we went on a date." She smiled and pulled out a box of crayons.

"It's actually good for your brain to do this," she justified as she poured the crayons out of the box. He looked around the restaurant briefly and then looked back at the table. Maggie had started drawing something, but he wasn't sure what it was. He grabbed the red and started drawing. Even though he didn't know what he was drawing, he was certain Maggie would like the fact that he was participating in her childish activity. "So,"

"So," Jasper copied. She looked up at him briefly and they exchanged a smile.

"_What_ was our last date?"

"Um… it was for our two year two month anniversary. And we went to breakfast because you had some sort of test at night."

"Yes, I remember because you gave me that book that I'd been looking for." He nodded and continued to draw the car he had decided he was doodling. His mind went swimming through their relationship. All of the dates he took her on and all of the fun times they had together.

"Do you remember that time we went to the movies and you fell asleep in the middle of it?" She groaned and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yes. Don't remind me." Jasper laughed at her and she exhaled. "But you took me home and that was sweet."

"Of course I took you home," he smiled. He made eye contact with her and he saw her blush. That was enough to make him smile even bigger. "I didn't want you to break up with me because I left you at the theater." She laughed.

"I don't think I would have broken up with you because of that."

"No, but I would have had to make it up to you." She smiled and took a sip of her water.

"But you would have, because you were always doing things for me." He nodded and internally, he responded the way he wanted to. Internally, he told her _I love you._ But on the outside, he just continued drawing his really awful looking car. There was no way his kid was going to be an artist. Not with genetics coming from him.

"So this car sucks," he stated, pointing at the paper. He looked at Maggie's portion of the paper. She was drawing fish. _Of course_. She always drew sea life. Especially since that was like the only thing she knew how to draw.

"Oh no," she laughed when she saw it. "Here's another piece of paper. You should draw something else." She slipped the paper onto the table and he smiled.

"Do you just bring paper and crayons everywhere?" She nodded and looked down at her drawing again.

"One time, a long time ago, before we were together, I brought this sketch pad and I sketched the people in the restaurant for a good two and a half hours. Someone actually paid me to give them their drawing." He laughed.

"No way, really?" He was now drawing something random. It appeared to be some kind of monster with eyes all over the place, but he wasn't even sure.

"Yes. But it was only about ten dollars. He asked me how much I wanted and I said ten dollars. It covered my lunch." Jasper smiled and looked up at her again. She was looking at him and his drawing. "So you're drawing a monster?"

"I don't know what else to draw." She chewed on her lip for a moment and then took her phone out of her purse.

"Draw this," She showed it to him and he looked at her curiously.

"You want me to draw my Converse? Why do you even have a picture of my shoes on your phone?" She just smiled and continued to draw.

"I took it one morning because I felt artistic." He smiled and closed his eyes when he looked down. She was so amazing; he didn't know why he wasn't with her fulltime or why he wasn't making the most he could of this date.

"_You_ feel artistic?" Jasper punctuated the words slowly. She rolled her eyes at him.

"You were taking too long in the shower, fine. Happy now?" He smiled and their eyes connected for just a second. _I love you. I love you. I. Love. You._ That was all he could think in that second. And he desperately wanted to tell her. He desperately wanted her to know that he was being completely and fully serious about it earlier and that he _really_ wanted to marry her.

"Can I tell you something, Maggie?" he asked after about five minutes of straight silence and art.

"Mmhmm," He didn't look up at her, he just continued looking at his paper.

"One time when we were together I stayed up all night and I watched you sleep." He looked at her then and saw her looking at him. She smiled, to his surprise, and bit her lip.

"I did that once too, but I didn't stay up all night. Just until one." He laughed and she showed him her paper. On it was his crappy car, but aside from that were her fish and an octopus. There was even a whale that oddly had a heart in its eye. Jasper smiled at the picture and showed her his paper. She smiled in approval. "You should be an artist, Jasper. You have talent." He rolled his eyes.

"Only when I'm drawing shoes," She laughed and shook her head.

"You know you're too hard on yourself, right? You're always saying you're bad at doing things and you're actually really good at them."

"You think so?" Maggie started to gather the crayons again and she nodded.

"I know so, Jasper."

Their food came and they talked about a variety of things, most of them always coming back to their relationship and memories about what had been. Sometimes she'd look at him a certain way. He'd try to not make a big deal about it, but it was a big deal. She was looking at him and it was real. It was almost like she wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her.

They went back to the car and the night encased them as Jasper drove back to his dad's. Maggie didn't say anything, and when Jasper looked at her she was always looking outside or at him. He didn't exactly have a problem with being quiet, it was just that their relationship was really confusing him at that moment.

"You know what I think?" he asked her suddenly, surprising even himself that he'd be so bold as to ask that.

"What do you think?" Maggie shook her head in obvious curiosity. He smirked.

"That I really want to be with you. Like more than anything."

"I want to be with you too." He looked from the road to her and she smiled at him. "I think it's the best thing for our baby if we do. If we get back together."

"Right," Jasper agreed nonchalantly. "So do you want to move back in with me?" She didn't answer, so he felt like he should give her reasons for her to move in with him, "I don't want to be uninvolved in the rest of this pregnancy, Maggie. I want to be there and I want to be the one that drives you to the hospital four months from now when our little carbon copy gets here." She smiled at that and looked down at the part of her that he loved more than anything.

"If we lived together that would mean we'd have to think about marriage. A baby changes a relationship-"

"I know," he said quickly, cutting her off completely.

"But what if something happened and we stopped working?" He put his car into park and turned to face her. "What if we get into an argument and… and the baby…"

"No, Maggie, I won't let anything happen to us. We could work through our problems before; I don't know why you're doubting me." She breathed in and looked down at her fingers.

"I'm just… scared," She was using _that_ tone. The one that was borderline discussion- explanation with a little bit of edge. It wasn't his favorite tone. "Being pregnant is scary enough, but not knowing what's next is even worse." He couldn't even pretend he knew what she was going through. She was pregnant, she was all emotional, and she had some kind of a problem with trusting him. "But aside from that- I don't understand why you feel this need to move so quickly."

"You want the truth?" he asked harsher than he'd anticipated. She nodded. "Ok, your dad wants us to get married and I couldn't say no to him. There." She looked at him with an open mouth and she didn't say anything for a long while. She ended up looking down and away from him for a good five minutes or so, and so did he. He didn't want to get hit with all that anger he knew was bound to come out of her.

"So this whole thing was fake?" she asked softly, almost like she was whispering but it sounded hoarse. Hoarse with anger, he could tell. "Us… you caring about me and our baby? That was all fake?"

"No," he said quickly. "No, that's real, Maggie. I just-"

"How am I supposed to believe you?" Jasper shook his head.

"I don't know. But when I said I'd be there for you I meant it."

"I- I don't think we should be together if you're not going to tell me the whole truth up front." He gaped at her.

"_You_ were the one who _assumed_ I was going to ask. I never got to the part where I was going to explain about your dad." She narrowed her vision at him.

"But you _let_ me cut you off. If you were a real man you wouldn't have let me do that. I'm sorry we didn't work out this time either, Jasper, but I can't be with you if you're not man enough."

She removed herself from the vehicle and closed the door on him, causing him to slam his hand against the dashboard angrily.

**A/N: Sorry! It had to happen. The fact that he got told to ask her had to come out sooner or later. But I promise it will be getting better. Like much **_**much**_** better. **

**Reviews are awesome! :)**


	13. Chapter 13: Back Home

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History.**

Chapter 13- Back Home

They didn't talk for one full day. She avoided any interaction with him whatsoever, it seemed, and Jasper felt like he was the reason for her ignoring him. Of course he was- that whole argument was the cause of her ignoring him. But it was just a stupid argument and yet, it tore them apart so far that he couldn't look at her without feeling immediate pain and upset. She allowed him to drive her back to Connecticut, so he took that as she was ok with him on some level, be it friendship or just whatever the hell was going on in her head.

Jasper pulled into a parking space next to Maggie's car and she immediately looked to him with a smile; something he hadn't seen since dinner two nights before.

"Thank you for driving me, Jasper." He acknowledged her thanks with a nod and she unbuckled herself. He did the same and took an armful of the baby stuff from his trunk as she started for her apartment.

"So you and me…" he tried when there had been an overwhelming silence.

"We're having a baby," she shrugged. She stopped walking when she got to a certain door and turned to face him. He put the stuff down on the ground next to her bag and returned to where he had been standing.

"We're not going to try to fix our relationship?" Maggie looked down and sighed.

"We just don't work, Jasper, it's clear to me now more than it was before." No. That was definitely not the answer he was looking for at all.

"Maggie, you just need to give me a chance at fixing this. It was a mistake on my part, to ask you to marry me that quickly and then rush you into a relationship, and I'm sorry. We need to work through this. You're building walls and keeping me out for some reason. I don't even know what I did to make you feel like you need to keep me at arm's length." She stared at him with a quivering lip and wet eyes.

"I can't, Jasper. You've already hurt me enough; you should go before it gets so bad that I can't let you see your baby." He let out a large amount of air and nodded slightly before turning to leave her. He felt really bad; like he should have said no like he should have done when she broke up with him. He knew that this was the moment that was going to be the turning point of everything. If he let her win, then they would definitely not be together ever again. But if he did what he was supposed to do, what a man would do, then everything might turn out alright. He did _not_ want to be known as a woman, so he turned back around quickly. She was watching him go, like he assumed she would be.

"_God_, Maggie, I love you" Jasper breathed out and closed his eyes as the pain in his chest started to get caught up in his throat. "I love you. I don't want us to go down like this- with me walking away and you watching me go without really wanting me to leave. You and I both know you don't want me to leave you like this. We both know you want _me_ to be a grown up and take control of this situation because _you're_ too weak and… and too hidden from yourself to see that we _need_ to be together. Without you I'm nothing, Maggie. I'm _nothing_. I'm just alone and empty. When I saw you sitting at that table in the coffee shop I knew that I would never be able to feel full ever again because you're the only one I love and the only one that I'll ever feel like this around." He stopped talking and clenched his hand into a fist. "And because I love you I'm willing to let you do what you want to do. I'm willing to walk away and pretend I never spent time with you and pretend that I didn't fall in love with you when I saw just a fraction of a chance for us when I found out that I'm going to be a dad. I'm going to pretend none of this happened and I'll let you give our kid up. Hell, Maggie, I'll even let you ignore me for the rest of your life. I just want you to be happy."

He didn't look at her for any emotional readout before he turned around. Just seeing her crying like she was while he was talking was enough for him to know she was figuring everything out. He barely could walk away from her, truthfully, without feeling the knot in his stomach get tight and his mind yelling at him. In fact, it made him walk faster, with an urgency to get away from the situation.

But he only made it three steps. Three steps and he was stopped by a slight call from behind him. His chest rose and fell quickly, his breathing making him numb and the cold air blowing against him and entering his lungs making him chilled while he turned around. Maggie looked like she had been hit with a brick or something, minus the anger that would come with getting hit by a brick. She stepped up to him and stopped when there was about a foot of space between them.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Jasper, I- I'm not happy like this, without you, and I need-" He put a finger up to her lips and she stopped. He couldn't help himself when he lunged forward and captured her into a kiss. He knew she probably was shocked, because she was kind of unresponsive for the first fraction of a second, but then she seemed to melt right into it. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and her hands reluctantly seemed to travel up around his neck. Jasper rested his forehead against hers and listened as she caught her breath. That was one thing he never would forget the sound of.

"I don't want to lose you again, Maggie,"

"I don't want you to," Jasper smiled and pushed his hand through her soft brown hair like he used to do sometimes. He missed how it felt in between his fingers like that. "I need you to help me, Jasper," she said softly, "You were right about the walls I've been building and I… I need you to help me take them down." He placed his hands over hers and she looked at him again.

"We'll get through this together, ok? I'm not going to let you go ever again." She smiled weakly.

"So does this mean we're back together then?"

"As long as that's what you want, Maggie. If you're not ready for that then we should start back at just friends and-" She stopped him via kiss, bringing her arms back around his neck, and it was like heaven on Earth for those five long, blissful seconds. She came closer to him and tilted her face downwards until he tipped it back up and kissed her again.

He held her face steady with his hands and she brought her hands up against his chest so they rested symmetrically placed with one above his heart and the other on the opposite end. He couldn't help but feel the butterflies in his stomach as everything seemed to slow down. He smiled against her lips when she made a sound that reminded him of when they used to take it _much_ further than what it was right then.

"I guess that means we're together," she laughed softly. Jasper laughed too.

"Yeah,"

"Stay with me tonight?" He wanted to say yes, but he couldn't. He sighed and tucked back a piece of her hair.

"I really want to but I can't. Henry and-" She interrupted him with a kiss that made him wish Henry never decided to stay in America.

"Then make sure you can come over soon. We have a lot to talk about," He nodded slightly and she smiled. "The appointment is in a week. Think you can make it?"

"Definitely," He missed the feeling of her being that close to him when she slid back. She started back in for her door, but he couldn't let her go like that. "Hey Maggie?" She turned around almost like she _wanted_ him to stop her.

"Yes?"

"Are you calling me or am I calling you?" She broke into a smile.

"I'm calling you tonight. Expect the phone call at like eleven thirty."

"Why eleven thirty?"

"So I can fall asleep talking to you," That was the last thing she said. She gave him one last smile and closed the door. He would have jumped up and down with excitement if it weren't for the fact that he was cold and he needed to get back to his own apartment.

He slid back into his car and Henry jolted upwards from whatever he was doing in the backseat. But Jasper honestly didn't care about what Henry had to say after what had just occurred.

"Are we there yet?" Jasper rolled his eyes and started to drive.

"No, Henry, we just dropped Maggie off. We'll be at my apartment in like half an hour." It was horrible how it happened. Henry just kind of came down right as he and Maggie were about to leave with the saddest puppy dog eyes he'd ever seen. Then he told him that he "inspired" him to stay in America. So obviously Maggie said it was fine, but when it boiled down to his decision, he really couldn't argue either. The guy didn't have any place to go other than the zoo anyway.

"So what'd she say?" Jasper looked in the rearview for a second and shrugged.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, Jasper. I'm talking about what's going on between you and Maggie."

"We're together," Jasper nodded with a smile.

"Are you going to live together?"

"Um… it's kind of personal, Henry, but we need to work through some things before we can live together."

"Well that's not good at all," Henry was taken aback. Jasper did a head shrug and lifted his fingers off of the steering wheel for a moment.

"Look, Henry, Maggie and I literally just got back together. That's pretty much the best thing that's happened since I found out I'm going to be a dad. So I wouldn't go there with me if I were you." Henry didn't say anything, but he collapsed back down in the backseat.

When they got to his apartment, Henry immediately threw himself down on the couch and Jasper sighed. Henry had been to his apartment twice before, once when he first moved into it and again after Maggie left. Both were in between country bumping, so it was a very short visit. But this time, Henry was apparently going to be his roommate.

"Henry, you know I have a guest room you could-"

"No, Jasper, I think my hammock will fit well in here." Henry examined the room and then stood up with a nod of approval. "Maggie kept it cleaner, I think." Jasper sighed again.

"My only rule is don't sit on the counter, ok? That and please don't try to run your clothes through the dishwasher like you did when you came here last time."

"Don't worry, Jasper, I know how to clean my clothes." Jasper looked at him skeptically, but decided against arguing about it.

"Ok, well, I'm going to go to bed now. Make yourself comfortable." Henry grinned and Jasper left his cousin in his living room, which was kind of putting him on edge. He was sure he wouldn't be able to sleep knowing Henry's habitual nighttime routine included meditating, and he had a lot of things that he didn't want to get meditated on.

But he allowed himself to forget Henry just for a moment when he lay down on his bed and took his phone into his hand. He almost died when it rang, only because he really wanted to talk to his Maggie more than anything at that moment. So he talked to his girlfriend and he talked to his baby, which was slightly strange, but he humored Maggie's wish for him to say goodnight to their baby. She fell asleep talking to him, just like she wanted, and he was the happiest he had been since God knows when.

**A/N: Finally, they're back together! If you want a say in whether the baby is a boy or a girl, review and I'll think about it. It's really a tossup for me right now, but I **_**am**_** leaning towards one over the other. Let me know what you think, though. I love feedback. **

**Hope you liked this chapter! I updated faster than normal and I should be updating again really soon because I'm on a roll this week with writing this story. :)**

**Thank you for all of your kind reviews and for reading! I love you all. :)**


	14. Chapter 14: He or She?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History.**

**A/N: Hello! So I'm so so sorry I couldn't update sooner, but the site was having issues and then I was super busy, but now I'm not busy so I'm updating. :)**

**Just so you know, this chapter is split into two parts with both Jasper and Maggie's points of view. I did it like that so you can get a look into Maggie's head and also because the last line wouldn't have made sense if the whole thing was Maggie's POV. **

**If you have any names for the baby since this chapter is the big reveal, let me know. I'm not a hundred percent on a name yet either, so I'm taking suggestions. :)**

**Much love! **

Chapter 14- He or She?

(Alternating POV's)

**Maggie POV**

She was ultimately more excited about the appointment than nervous, which she really was. Jasper was sitting with her at the doctor's office that very early morning. He looked really tired, which she felt. They had been on the phone from nine at night until one because, and only because, she couldn't fall asleep and Jasper wasn't willing to hang up on her until she did. She thought it was very sweet of him.

"How long have we been waiting here?" Jasper asked. "I thought you were supposed to be the first one."

"I guess they're busy or something," Maggie shrugged and looked at him from her magazine on parenting. Not that she needed to. She had all of the articles and magazines she'd ever read on parenting on her mind at all times. "You have to learn how to be patient if you're going to have a baby, Jasper. Especially if this baby is loud and obnoxious, then you'll really need to be patient." He snorted at the statement, which in turn made Maggie roll her eyes.

"Like our kid would be obnoxious. Not with you being its mom."

"Yes, but with you and Henry you never know what could happen." Maggie looked slightly past her boyfriend to see Henry Griffin still playing with the three year old boy that an expectant mom left while she went back to go to the bathroom.

"He seems to be ok with kids," She smiled and looked away from what Henry was doing.

"He seems to be excellent with kids, Jasper. And that's why I think we should tell him we want him to be our baby's godfather."

"Wha-" She held up a finger and scooted upright.

"Jasper, he's very close to both of us. I'm sure he'll be a good example for our baby." Jasper looked over at Henry again and she knew he was definitely struggling with the concept. She didn't understand why. Henry and Jasper were very close, last she knew they were at least. They were roommates, for heaven's sake.

"Mmhmm, ok. Maggie, are you sure about this? There's at least a thousand other people we could ask." She nodded once and forced herself to not laugh at how he looked upset still. "So… should we place a bet on what it is?" Maggie rolled her eyes.

"No, Jasper. We're not betting on the sex of our baby."

"All I'm saying is that if it's a girl, I'm going to be right and I'm probably going to not be able to say anything." She let out a laugh.

"But what if it's a boy? Wouldn't you like a son?" He shrugged.

"Of course I do, but I don't really care which comes first." She shook her head.

"You're already planning on having more? Jasper we're still-" She couldn't finish because they got called back at that moment.

Jasper sat in the chair beside her on the table next to the machine. She had gone through this once before, but the difference was that Jasper was there. His presence actually made it more of a comfortable event rather than an awkward one.

The technician didn't show them the baby first; she let them hear the heartbeat. Maggie smiled at the rhythmic whirring sound and glanced over at Jasper to make sure he was still alive, which he was. He kind of looked like he was about to cry, which she thought was one of the most adorable aspects of him- that he really loved their baby.

He really cared about them, and that was why she agreed to begin dating him again. Because he cared so much about her and their child even when she kept it from him and even when she got mad at him for being a complete idiot. He was definitely proving himself, if he needed to do that in the first place. Two years together and you'd think that he'd proven himself already, but there had been a gap in between and that gap caused her to build a wall. It still hurt to think about the fact that she couldn't trust him explicitly.

The gel was cold when it was applied to her exposed skin. The woman said it would be cold, but she wasn't prepared for it to be _this_ cold. She felt Jasper's squeeze her hand, though, so she knew it would be fine. The doctor started pressing against her skin and the gel with the wand and after a few minutes, she turned the screen towards them more.

"Ok, here's the head," She pointed to the blob and Maggie smiled at it. "And these are her legs. It looks like it's a little girl you've got in there." Maggie couldn't help but feel a great rush of excitement. She had secretly hoped it was a girl so she could teach her everything her mom taught her, which involved a lot of combat training and rope tying, but nonetheless, she was grateful that it was a she and not a he, otherwise she'd have to tease Jasper about having to give "the talk" when they got old enough.

When she looked at Jasper, he was just staring at the image on the monitor with his eyes wide and his mouth wide open. He looked kind of like he could pass out. She squeezed his hand to revive him and he looked at her.

"She's so beautiful." he breathed. Maggie smiled at her boyfriend and looked back at the monitor.

"I couldn't agree more,"

. . .

**Jasper POV**

He was so glad it was a girl. Not because he didn't want a son, but because he had been dreaming about it being a girl since he found out and it would be wrong for it not to be. And- he kind of liked the idea of having a little girl. Girls were quiet and less rowdy than boys, which he knew from experience, of course. He really liked the idea of having a girl, but then there was the realization that she would one day be a teenager and therefore, she could potentially get pregnant. He would definitely have to talk to Maggie about homeschooling her.

But there was one thing he didn't know. He didn't know where they were going to house their daughter. She would definitely need someplace to run around and a place to play. And then there was the whole thing of actually getting Maggie to marry him and then her having another kid. Then there would have to be room for more than one. His apartment definitely didn't fit that description.

He and Maggie were lying on his bed that morning because they were _so_ tired. She insisted upon coming to his apartment since she hadn't been to it since they broke up. Henry was in the living room, probably meditating again or laying on his hammock. He was pretty sure he kept him up when he talked to Maggie, so he was probably just as tired as they were.

"I'm not going to be able to say no to her," Jasper mumbled. "Ever." She laughed softly.

"I hope you will be. I don't want her to be spoiled." He turned his head to look at her and she grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry I kept you up. I should have let you hang up on me."

"No," he insisted. "I like talking to you even if all you have to say is _I'm so tired but I can't sleep_." He mimicked her voice and she smacked him in the arm as she laughed.

"I don't sound like that,"

"You do. And you sometimes do this whiny thing right before you fall asleep on the phone and it freaks me out."

"I don't believe you." Maggie released his hand and moved closer to him. "Jasper?"

"Yeah Mama?"

"Where are we going to raise our daughter? I want her to know you; I don't want her to live without you like she has for the past five months of her life." He smiled at the fact that they were both worried about the same thing. Only people who knew each other as well as they did could do that.

"I guess it depends on a few things,"

"Like what?"

"Like what you think about our relationship." Maggie seemed to think about it for a moment. He knew she wasn't ready to move in with him. They had already discussed what they wanted for their relationship this time around and moving in with each other was after they had been dating for a while. She had to be ready for him.

"I think," she paused, seemingly still in thought. She tended to do this in stressful situations. "I think we should probably do something." Do something was kind of an out there statement coming from her. It literally could have meant anything. Anything from doing psychological evaluations to doing "tests" which typically involved doing something they didn't usually do.

"Like what?" She rolled onto her side, therefore bringing her closer to him. She pressed her hand to her expanding waist and took his to do the same. She was kicking. He smiled at the feeling.

"I think she wants to do what I'm thinking."

"What are you thinking?" he asked cautiously. She looked into his eyes and he braced himself for whatever it was.

"Sleepovers. We need to have sleepovers."

"Oh," His eyes widened. "Um… really?"

"How else are we going to fix me?" Jasper knew this conversation was coming. He sighed.

"Do you feel comfortable with doing this? I mean, sleeping over…" She chewed at her lip.

"We did it in DC, Jasper. I don't see what the problem with me sleeping over at your apartment would be. We're going to be living together eventually, and me sleeping over here might help." He tried to envision himself getting any other opportunities to see her but he couldn't. Not with him working all day, five days a week. She was busy too, he knew this much. When they lived together all the time they had was after work and on weekends, and even then it was very subtle. Maggie had homework out her eyeballs all the time.

"So what were you thinking then? Were you thinking Fridays or what?"

"Friday works for me. Should we do it every week? I don't know when we'd be able to spend time together otherwise. I'm going to try to work ahead in school and I still have work until I have this baby."

"Well," Jasper sighed. "Friday's it is then. When are we going to tell Henry that he's her godfather?" She laughed.

"Soon. I think if we tell him too soon he might abuse his role. He's the obvious choice, though. He could teach her about other cultures. It's good to have a well rounded child, you know that m-" He cut her off by kissing her, which made her laugh in turn.

"You talk way too much, Mags." His girlfriend smiled and squeezed his hand.

"I'm glad I have you to calm me down, though." She closed her eyes and slid closer to him. "I haven't felt like this in a long time."

"Like what?" he asked softly. His fingers went running over her hair and she pressed her lips against his.

"Like I'm where I need to be."

And thus began the cogs turning in his _very_ creative mind.


	15. Chapter 15: Those Three Words

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History.**

Chapter 15- Those Three Words

(Maggie POV)

She was standing in the aisle of cribs at the baby store because she was having nesting problems and they were killing her. She had heard stories about women needing to nest and prepare for their babies, but she never thought she'd experience it at ten at night on a Wednesday. And without Jasper there, it was even worse.

She was in her pajamas, making her look slightly odd, she was sure. But at least she had a reason for her behavior. She was a hormonal, pregnant woman with a need. And she was just satisfying the need.

They had been dating for three weeks and still hadn't selected a name for their daughter, which bothered everything within her. She wanted to name her something unique, but Jasper kept suggesting names that were bland and not something she wanted to call her. The most recent being Caroline, which she didn't have a huge problem with, but it was kind of long and whatever last name she was going to have- it wasn't going to fit on a nametag.

She had slept over at Jasper's apartment twice and both times, she found herself letting go of whatever was keeping her from letting him in. She felt comfortable around him again, so much more comfortable than she had been before. And when he did little adorable things like fall asleep with his head on her stomach while she was reading aloud in the morning, she only fell for him more and more.

But there was one thing she had yet to say to him. Three words mean a lot, especially when it's being said over and over by one person and never being reciprocated by the other. The concept of telling him _I love you_ had been burning at her, almost keeping her up at night. She had thought about telling him casually over the phone that she loved him, but she didn't think it was something that could, or should, happen on the phone.

With how she'd tell Jasper she loved him going through the back of her mind, she focused on the task at hand. She was in the middle of an in depth decision of whether or not to pick the darker or lighter wood when something startling happened. Arms wrapped around her, prompting her to go into attack mode and kick the person behind her in the shin.

"Ow," When she recognized the voice, she instantly felt _really_ bad and turned around to face him.

"Jasper, I'm _so_ sorry. I didn't know it was-" He nodded and waved his hand at her like it didn't matter, but she could tell she hurt him. She knew her kick was _kind_ of strong _and_ he was cringing like it hurt, so it definitely _did_ hurt him.

"It's ok," She sighed, only because she still felt bad, and bit at her lip until she decided that the only rational way of solving this problem was to let him do it again.

"Try again. This time I won't kick you," Maggie turned around and she swore he laughed, but she could have been wrong. When his arms went around her, she smiled at the butterflies swirling around her stomach and the kicking her daughter was doing at the same moment.

"She's excited." She turned herself in his grasp so she faced him and he loosened his hold on her.

"Only because she knows when you're around." Jasper smiled and she felt the urge to say I love you to him because at that moment, he was definitely turning her on. And there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about what he was doing. It was the hormones. _Again_. "I missed you." He laughed.

"You say that every night when you call me,"

"But it's true. I missed you." He kissed her and she laughed as soon as she twirled out of his grasp and to his right, still holding his hand.

"I missed you too." She pointed at the crib she had been looking at before.

"I was looking at cribs, but I don't know why you're here. You're not the one that's pregnant and going through the nesting phase." Jasper shrugged and looked at the piece of furniture she had been looking at.

"Maybe I _am_ going through it and I just wanted to come see what kind of money I'd be dishing out for my Princess' room." She rolled her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. There was something about how he looked that was off. He had what appeared to be paint in his hair and he looked really tired, like he hadn't slept in days, which was very possible. She kept him up late sometimes.

"Ok, whatever you say _Daddy_." She turned back to the crib and nodded. "I think we should get this one. It's nice."

"Ok,"

"Ok? That's it? You're not going to argue with me or anything?" He shook his head and Maggie sighed. He was obviously hiding something from her and he wanted her to get out of the store. "Then where should we keep it when we buy it?"

"Um,"

"Probably my apartment because it wouldn't make sense for you to have it," She took the piece of paper that indicated that she wanted to buy the furnishing and turned to him. "Tell me the truth, Jasper. What are you doing here?"

"Honestly? I came here because I wanted to see what kind of money I'm going to spend for our daughter, nothing serious."

"You're going to buy it?" She started walking with him towards the check out and he nodded.

"Of course I am. You're my baby mama and you're having my baby girl. Obviously I need to do _something_." Maggie thought he was very sweet, so she moved closer to him and wrapped her arm through his.

"You're really amazing, Jasper." He didn't say anything, but she saw him smile when she looked at him closely.

When he walked her out to her car, she let him pull her in close and kiss her. She really loved him, and she couldn't believe she hadn't told him that yet. It was making her heart flip out on her even when he was just holding her hands like he was.

"Thank you for everything you've been doing for us, Jasper. It's very amiable."

"That's a part of the job description, isn't it?" She smiled.

"I guess it is, but not every guy would help as much as you have. You're handling this like it's completely normal, that I'm pregnant and we're dating and-"

"Hey, it's nothing, Mags. I would do this for you if we were just friends and it wasn't my kid." Maggie shook her head. She knew Jasper better than that. He wouldn't do half the things he did for her if that was the truth. Sure, he might like to think he would, but really, he wouldn't. Especially since he was apparently trying to win her over- he told her that once when they had been on the phone for much too long and she was almost asleep.

"I- Jasper, I've been meaning to tell you that I love," She paused and thought about what she was doing. She was telling him something that she needed to tell, but it was also something she was kind of scared of. She was scared of loving Jasper. "I love that you're letting Henry live with you. It's really nice of you."

"Oh," He nodded slowly. "Um… does this have anything to do with the fact that I forgot some important day or something?"

"What?" She was genuinely confused.

"You're not telling me the truth, Maggie."

"How can you tell?" He rubbed his hand in broad circles around her bump and she sighed when he stepped closer to her.

"I think that's also a part of the job description, isn't it?" Maggie felt her face getting warm with his close proximity and she tried to convince herself that she was in fact dreaming, therefore she could tell him and it wouldn't matter.

"I wanted to tell you that I…" Again, she paused. She had never felt this much pressure in her whole entire life. "I love you, Jasper. I wanted to tell you that I love you."

"You…" Her boyfriend's eyes widened and he squeezed the one hand he still held and brought the other down. "I love you too." She crept up slightly and kissed him.

"I think sleeping over is working."

"Do you want to come over tonight?" Maggie hesitated for a moment, but the amount of relief she felt for him not snapping out at her or making her feel weird for telling him that she loved him was enough for her to officially break past the hesitation.

"If you want me to come over, I don't want to make you feel like you have to ask me."

"No, I really want you to come over." She smiled and tipped her head down as she laughed slightly.

"Is Henry going to be ok with me coming over?"

"Oh, yeah, he'll be fine with it."

"Then I'll come over," Maggie kissed him again and she rubbed her nose against his so a sound escaped from his throat.

"I love you, Mama."

"I love you too, Jasper." And in that moment, she knew that she'd probably end up doing a little more than just sleeping over at Jasper and Henry's that night.

. . .

Maggie sighed internally when Jasper's phone went off in the middle of the night. She had the urge to smack him and force him to not answer it, but he answered it before she could even think about it.

"Hello?" Jasper didn't know she was awake, so she had the upper hand in this instance for perfect eavesdropping. "Oh, um- yeah, but I have… Maggie's over right now and I can't." _He can't what? _Maggie felt something she hadn't felt for a while: _jealousy_. Jealousy because it seemed obvious, what he was talking about. He laughed, which only made it worse, "No, it's not that I don't want to. Just- later, ok? And I promise I'll be prepared this time." _Prepared for what?_ She bit her tongue to prevent lashing out at him. It seemed like he was doing exactly what she thought. It seemed like he was talking to another woman about something he just did with her while she lay next to him in an assumed state of sleep. If it was the case, then Jasper was definitely a _horrible_ boyfriend. "Ok, yeah, see you later."

The evidence was all there, but it was only circumstantial. She didn't have real evidence, like who called or what they actually said. So, when he hung up, she rolled over to start probing in her best tired voice.

"Who was that?"

"No one," he said quickly. Maggie sighed and rolled back over onto her back.

"No one _who_?" Jasper laughed.

"It wasn't a big deal, Mags. Don't worry about it." He rested his hand on top of the place their daughter was incubating and he slid closer to her.

"Promise you won't cheat on me," It took him a few seconds, but he must have realized where she got the idea of him cheating on her from.

"Of course not, you're my life. I wouldn't cheat on you." Though she wanted to believe him, she couldn't help but feel doubts.

"I don't know if I can-" He interrupted her by speaking over her, which he only did in instances that he was either annoyed at her or if he was mad about something. In this instance, he was probably both, based solely on the fact that he sat up to speak.

"Why would I cheat on you if you're the only person I want to be with?" Maggie shook her head against the pillow and tugged at the sheets.

"I don't know. It was stupid of me to think that. I'm sorry." Jasper returned to his original position and Maggie fell asleep to the warmth of his hand resting against the skin of her stomach through the safety of the blanket.

**A/N: Yes. I totally updated twice in a week. And yes, I also just did that to Maggie. But is it really like what she thinks?**

**Next chapter Henry will be getting a love interest, but it won't be very obvious in case you guys don't like it. And also, what Jasper's big idea was is going to be revealed. It's a pretty awesome idea, if I do say so myself. ;)**


	16. Chapter 16: Secret Revealed

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History**

**A/N: Thank you so much for all of the review love! I really appreciate it. Anyway, this chapter took forever for me to write for some reason, and it's shorter than I normally write, but I'll be updating really soon- hopefully before the end of the week to make up for it. So… I hope you like it! **

**Much much love. :)**

Chapter 16- Secret Revealed

(Jasper POV)

Jasper was _so_ mad at her. She called him at two in the morning when Maggie was sleeping over and she made him sound, he was sure, like he was cheating on his woman. Like he'd ever cheat on Maggie, right? And anyway, she had no reason to be calling him, other than to further conflict the situation.

Maggie didn't seem to believe him when he said it was no one. That was a lie, of course it was someone, but she couldn't at any costs know who it was. If she knew who it was, then she'd ask why he didn't bring her over or what she was even doing in the state of Connecticut to begin with.

He was still fuming over how mad he was at the woman who had called him as he slowly approached the door to the home with Henry in tow. He loved Maggie more than any other person or thing that existed, with the exception of his daughter. The thought of losing Maggie because of something idiotic that _she_ did was ridiculous. He didn't want to lose Maggie, not ever. Especially since she totally just tore open on him and dumped everything she had been holding back out.

As he stuck his key into the lock and twisted it, he turned towards Henry, who was being abnormally quiet for the morning kind of person he was. In fact, he barely said anything all morning to him or Maggie, so he had a feeling something was up.

"You ok, Hen?"

"What?" He shook his head out of an obvious daze, "Nothing's wrong." Jasper sighed and opened the door to the two story home. He bought it the day after he found out he was having a baby girl, the day after Maggie told him that she was where she thought she belonged. The house was going to be her incredibly awesome birthday present slash late Christmas present. It was huge enough for him and Maggie to live there with their daughter and Henry if he wanted to live there. It even had this space outside for a garden, since he knew Maggie used to like maintaining a vegetable garden. The bad thing about it, though, was that it needed to be completely redone. There were things about it that screamed unsafe and unhealthy, meaning it would take time to fix. He knew Maggie would probably like it after he gave it to her even if they didn't end up together, which seemed sort of unlikely after all the times she told him that she loved him even after the two a.m. phone call.

"Don't tell me nothing's wrong when there is, Henry. I can tell. You've been all quiet since this morning." Jasper walked Henry into the living room where he sighed at the pieces of paper that were stacked on a table. He started going through them, looking for that one in particular while listening to Henry's excuse.

"There's nothing wrong with being quiet," he shrugged. "In many cultures silence is-"

"Ok, in many cultures silence might be a good thing, but not when you're normally not this quiet. Is it something I did or something-" He gestured with his hand and Henry shook his head. "Then what is it?"

"It's nothing, Jasper. But you know how-" He was stopped by the sound of the door being opened up again and the presence of the familiar female swamped the air. Jasper knew what was going on with Henry, and its name was Whitney Coleman.

"Hey you guys," she greeted in her typical morning perk. Jasper wasn't sure how someone like her could be so happy in the mornings, but she was. And she had been like this ever since she started helping them out with the remodel of the house.

When he and Henry first took on the colossal task of completely fixing up a two story home with the intention of moving a pregnant woman into it, they worked slowly. In three days, they only had finished one easy bedroom, which was less than optimal for the amount of time he had to finish the job. He had just barely a month if he was going to have it ready for Maggie's birthday, which was all a part of his master plan, of course.

But Whitney was sort of an angel from heaven. He had been working on priming the master bathroom while Henry did the same to the master bedroom when his phone rang and Whitney was on the other line. Now, the last time he saw Whitney was at graduation in high school, and she only came because she heard they were graduating and she was in town on the day they received their diplomas. She was working for some big time newspaper in New York and she had sufficiently made a life for herself there, so she really had no reason to come in contact with any of them. But she did, which turned out to be a great thing.

She called because she was interested in finding Henry again, which at the time was sort of perfect leverage for him to get her to come down to Connecticut so she could help quicken the pace of the slow moving project. She got to see Henry again and he got another set of hands and a brilliant mind to help him create his biggest plan to date.

"Hey Whitney," Jasper sighed. She approached him and held out a coffee cup.

"Coffee, since I know you were up late last night." He gave her a look, but accepted the cup nonetheless. She turned to Henry and smiled, "So last night the carpeting people finished the bedrooms, thankfully."

"Oh,"

"And you called me at two in the morning," Jasper reminded. She sighed.

"Only because you said you'd be right back and then you weren't. I was worried."

"Maggie _still_ thinks I'm cheating on her with someone and I have to tell her that I'm not in six thousand different ways so she knows I'm not. And she's pregnant so it's like ten times more difficult to keep her satisfied with the it doesn't matter excuse." Whitney laughed softly and placed a hand on his arm.

"She'll understand once we finish this place and you explain everything to her. She won't hate you forever. Did she leave after the phone call?"

"No," She smiled and tipped her head to the right.

"Then she doesn't hate you and she doesn't think you're really cheating on her. Just make sure you text me the next time something like this happens." Jasper sighed. It was his fault, but only partially. Whitney didn't really have to call him at that hour of the day even if they were typically out from six in the morning until three and ran on about two hours of sleep and seven or eight cups of coffee throughout the day.

"How many rooms do we have left, Jasper?" Henry asked, breaking the awkward silence that had accumulated.

"Three not including the nursery," He held up the piece of paper that displayed his list. "And I still don't understand why Whitney wanted me to get the crib last night. It wasn't like you couldn't wait for another day or time to get it and match colors."

"Well, yes it was. I'm going to go paint color shopping today so…"

"So we should probably get started," Henry said smoothly. "Right Jasper?" He stared at Henry for a second, his mind going through the list of things he had to do before he could reveal the home to his girlfriend. A lot. There were a lot of things he had to do.

"Yeah, we do. Um, Whitney, you should just go to the store while me and Henry stay here to start finishing the kitchen before I have to go to work. Remember that Maggie's birthday is in two weeks, so we need to make sure it's done by then otherwise we have to wait until Valentine's Day and I'll have to throw something together for her birthday." Whitney laughed.

"Don't worry, Jasper. We'll have this place ready for her."

. . .

It was night when he went back to the house to continue the remodel. He had been at work all day and he really wasn't feeling kitchen cabinets, but he really had to be. Maggie was the reason he was doing what he was doing, and she would continue to be until he died pretty much. It was crazy what she was doing to him.

He was in the middle of assembling one of the kitchen cabinets when his phone rang. He knew who it was before he answered, based solely on the ringtone. It was Maggie.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jasper," He smiled and motioned to Henry to stop what he was doing so it was quiet.

"Hey Mama, what's up?"

"Um, I have to talk to you about something."

"Ok," He didn't know what she would want to talk about. He was kind of worried.

"I got this bill from the doctor and I don't think I can pay it. I was sort of wondering if you could lend me some money? I'll pay it back by the end of the month, I promise, I just have to get this paid or-" He didn't want to tell her no, especially since he was still trying to make up for that stupid phone call. But he spent all kinds of money already and he was barely getting by on half a paycheck's worth of money. He was going to get paid in a few days, though, so he didn't hesitate when he cut her off.

"I'll pay it off. You don't need to pay me back."

"Really?" she sounded like she didn't believe him in the least.

"Mags, she's my baby too. And you paid for everything else before you told me, so I should really do this for you. For us,"

"Are you sure? I mean, I could pay you back."

"No, it's fine. Just trust me, Maggie. I want this. I want this relationship so I want to do anything I can for you." She didn't respond immediately, but he could tell she was at least semi tearing up about it because she spoke softly.

"Thank you,"


	17. Chapter 17: Birthday Preparations

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History.**

**A/N: Hi! I just wanted to let you know that in the next chapter, not this one, the baby's name is going to be decided. So if you have an idea or really want a specific name to be considered, then you should speak now or I'll have to pick it. And I'm probably updating in a few days since I've pretty much finished it with the exception of the name, so… yes. :)**

Chapter 17- Birthday Preparations

(Jasper POV)

All they had left was the nursery. They miraculously finished the rest of the house in those remaining two weeks, but now they had to do the most difficult of them all. The nursery was going to take about two days, if his calculations were correct. Two days were all they had anyway, so it had to be two days. But the nursery was going to be the most difficult because of a few things. One, he was pretty sure he pulled a muscle in his back a few days before, and two, it was going to be the room he had been looking forward to doing and he was worried about ruining it.

Maggie wasn't really mad at him anymore, or at least she didn't seem like she was. She was more occupied with getting ahead in class and working, which was good because she didn't spend as much time on the phone with him at night and he could work more on the house.

When he made it into the nursery on that Thursday, Whitney was in deep discussion with Henry about something about animals, but Jasper ignored most of it as he sipped at his coffee. He had been getting so little sleep it was insane, but he had to remind himself that this was all for his Maggie and his daughter.

"Hey Jasper," Henry greeted. Jasper nodded slightly at them in acknowledgement of the greeting. Whitney tied her hair up in a pony tail as they stood there quietly and Jasper eyed the room cautiously.

"So this is it, right? All we have to do is the nursery?" he asked.

"Yes," Whitney put her hands on her hips and looked around slightly. "And luckily, all we have to do is paint it and get the furniture in here. You still have the crib, right?"

"Yeah, it's at the apartment," Jasper nodded and Henry did the same.

"It's weird that Maggie didn't ask for it, don't you think, Jasper?" Henry raised an eyebrow curiously. He shrugged. Maggie wasn't really the kind of person that would just forget something like a crib, especially since that was the day that he got her to open up to him like she did. Or maybe she was just being polite in forgetting so he'd bring it back up. He wasn't sure.

"Um, no. She probably just doesn't want to be rude and demanding." Henry shrugged and Whitney looked confused, but he didn't clarify.

"So what do we have to do now then?" Henry asked.

"Wait, so do you guys want to know my plan at all or are we just going to do something random?" Whitney laughed and Henry shrugged, prompting Jasper to smile as he explained his vision, "Since it's a girl and I'm sure she's going to be, like, the coolest little girl ever, we're going to paint a mural on this wall," Jasper pointed to the wall to their right and Whitney nodded in agreement.

"A mural like what?" she posed. He opened his mouth to respond, but Henry was quicker than him. And yes, he and Henry did talk about what they were planning on doing in the nursery, so he did know. Jasper was just re-explaining it to them because he thought they might have forgotten, but apparently not.

"A safari," he cut in excitedly. "With lions and elephants," He wasn't sure why Henry was ten thousand times more excited about the nursery than him, but he knew he was still getting off the _I'm-going-to-be-a-godfather _high, so there _was_ a slight reason for it.

"A safari," Whitney restated. "I think that would be nice. And if we did trees and birds that would be interesting." Jasper high fived Henry, who held his hand out to him. Whitney rolled her eyes, "I'll stay here and start painting if you two go shopping for the rest of the furniture. I made a list," She handed Jasper a piece of paper and he glanced it over as she spoke, "I don't think you'll have any problems finding any of that, but if you do let me know."

. . .

"Wow, Jasper, look at all of these giant bears," Henry marveled while he held out a big, fuzzy panda bear out to him. Jasper sighed.

"Henry, you already picked like seventeen other animals. I'm sure my daughter will be fine with just those seventeen. She doesn't need a giant panda bear." They were at the baby store so they could get furniture for the nursery. Whitney was back at the house, like she said she would be, painting the walls that yellow color she picked out at least a week ago. The trip was supposed to consist of a quick in and out with a few stops at the furniture section and the check out, but so far, his cousin picked all stuffed animals and there were literally seventeen of them. Not figuratively, _literally_.

"But Jasper, this bear is big and look-" Henry clutched the bear under his arm and grabbed a small panda bear. "It has a baby bear." Jasper closed his eyes.

"Ok, Henry, you know we're here so we can get some stuff for the baby's room, not so we can get bears and monkeys and giraffes." Henry frowned.

"Just this one bear, Jasper," They stood there for a minute in silence before he pulled the card. "Since I'm her godfather I think she should know about panda bears." Now he _couldn't_ say no to him.

"Ok, we'll get the panda bear. But that's it. No more animals." Henry grinned and placed the bear in the already almost full cart. Jasper just rolled his eyes and pushed the cart forward into the aisle they were supposed to be most interested in. "So we need a…"

"This one," Henry pointed at a rocking chair and Jasper sighed.

"Henry,"

"Jasper, trust me. This one will be the best one." He raised an eyebrow skeptically and exhaled when his phone rang.

"Hold up," He lifted the phone to his ear, "Hello?"

"Jasper,"

"Um, Maggie, what's wrong?" He assumed something was wrong, only because she never called him during the day and she never started off by saying his name like she did.

"Nothing,"

"Then why are you calling me?" She laughed.

"Why are you being so moody? Can't your girlfriend call you every once and a while?" He sighed as he pushed the cart forward.

"Sorry, Mama. I'm just really kind of stressed with work right now." That was only _kind_ of true. He was working from nine to five and every other hour was spent remodeling, but he took the occasional day off, just like this one.

"It's ok. Do you think I could go to your apartment tonight? I kind of miss you." Jasper sighed again.

"Oh, yeah. You can come over. Just don't come until like… seven. I have to go shopping. Henry used the last of the milk last night making some weird bread thing."

"Ok, so seven. Should I bring anything?"

"Not unless you intend on spending the night. It's Thursday, I don't know if you'd want to do that, you have work tomorrow." Henry was glaring at him when he turned around to see what his cousin was doing. And he was still standing by that one crib. Jasper stopped and started turning around.

"I actually took tomorrow off. I have to work ahead in class if I want to graduate. Do you want me to bring cookies?"

"You made cookies? _Yes_." She laughed.

"Ok, good. I'll make sure I'm there on time." Jasper couldn't wipe the smile off of his face even though Henry was glaring at him still.

"Hey, do you still have the key to the apartment? You can go in if we're still not there when you get there."

"Um," There was a long pause and he assumed she was checking. She laughed suddenly, making him confused. "Sorry, your daughter moved again. Um-"

"She's _my_ daughter now," Jasper teased.

"No daughter of mine would move this much, Jasper. She must be yours."

"Do you have the key?"

"Yes."

"Then if we're not there then feel free."

"Are you sure? I'd feel like I was intruding on your privacy."

"Oh come on, Mags. It's just the apartment. You've been there a thousand times."

"Ok," she exhaled. "I should let you go. I'm sure you're busy."

"Yeah,"

"So… bye then."

"See you tonight, more like."

"Right," she agreed. "See you tonight." Jasper smiled and Henry started playing with the animals in the cart.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Then he hung up and looked again at Henry, who had moved on from playing with the animals to looking at his furniture of choice.

"Ok, Henry, in your professional opinion, which one is going to be the best one?"

. . .

Whitney was sitting on the floor with her legs tied up like a pretzel and her phone in her hand like she was reading something important. Jasper nodded to Henry to set down the last piece of furniture on the floor and then he stepped back with a release of air.

"So Maggie's going to be at the apartment in four hours you guys,"

"Oh, she is?" Whitney's vision snapped up to him. "Can I come over?"

"Why would you do that when you've been staying away from her for two weeks?"

"Because she's pregnant and she needs a friend and I haven't seen her in forever." The woman stood up and tucked her phone away. "And not two guy friends. She needs someone who understands her way of thinking."

"But you don't-"

"Ok, so I don't _technically_ know what she's going through right now, but my sister just had her baby and I know how that was for her. She was dying for another woman to talk to so she always called me. Trust me, Jasper. She'll really like seeing me." He didn't know if he could trust her to not spill everything that they'd been working on for so long. The finish line was a few days away, so it was important it didn't get talked about at all.

"The only way this is going to work is if we lie to her and say you _just_ came down." Jasper resolved. Henry gave him a look and shook his head.

"The only way we'll ever finish this room is if we get going. Jasper, don't you have to draw out the animals or something?"

"Ugh, yes," He sighed as he envisioned how much pain his hand would be in after drawing outlines on the wall. "Ok. But you guys need to help me."

"Of course we will," Whitney rolled her eyes. "But first I have to go get something from my car. I'll be back." She left the room and there was an overwhelmingly good silence and comforting feeling.

"She's so tense sometimes," Jasper walked over to the empty wall with a pencil in his hand.

"Why did she come? You never told me why she came."

"Um, seriously? Do you want to know?" He knelt down on the ground to start sketching a lion and Henry sat down beside him.

"I think she just came because she was trying to find you and Maggie." Jasper turned back to look at him and snorted a laugh.

"Seriously?"

"Yes," Henry sat down beside him and Jasper shook his head.

"Why would she come looking for us? When she called me she was looking for you. She came because she wanted to find you again, Henry. She obviously still likes you."

"Really?" Jasper shrugged and turned back to the wall.

"Just my opinion. You know, I don't really have that much experience with women, but only because I've only dated like three people ever, but I think she does. I mean, on the phone she told me she wanted to _find you_, so that seems like a pretty obvious sign to me."

"So what do you think I should do?" Jasper couldn't help but smile as he started to draw on the wall.

"Well, I guess it depends on if you like her back."

. . .

He had literally just turned the lamp off when Maggie rolled over and cuddled beside him in her typical manner. He knew she was still pretty excited about seeing Whitney again. Whitney came over with him and Henry and stayed until at least eight thirty just talking to them about things like she had no idea about the house or anything at all. The woman was an incredible actress, he was impressed.

"So you seriously _just_ ran into Whitney?" she asked. He wrapped his arm around her and turned his head to look at her.

"Yes, and I'm not going to tell you that again because that's seriously what happened." His girlfriend laughed softly and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Ok, so goodnight then." He was very tired. He didn't hesitate to turn his head back and close his eyes. But, of course, Maggie was the kind of person that preferred to talk until she was tired enough to sleep, so she did exactly that.

"Jasper,"

"Mm?" He didn't open his eyes or move at all because he didn't want to force the conversation. He never did.

"Do you think Whitney is prettier than me?" It was an absurd question to be asking, especially when he was so tired and so not willing to get into a deep debate.

"No," She exhaled, meaning there was more to come.

"One to ten what am I? Ten being the most pretty,"

"Google," Again, she sighed, but this time it was sort of a laugh and she shifted so she wasn't all over him.

"What about her? What is she?"

"Seven, but she's not my type."

"No?"

"No, I like this really hot pregnant girl with brown hair and amazing dark brown eyes."

"Really,"

"Mmhm,"

"So you wouldn't cheat on her?" He was officially falling asleep at this point, so every answer would have to be either _mmhmm_ or _mm_ or _no_.

"No," She was quiet, thankfully, for a few minutes. Then the bed moved again and she rolled into his side, causing him to open his eyes to look at her.

"I trust you, Jasper."

"Good," he breathed. "Go to sleep now?"

"Actually, I was hoping we could talk about something else." He closed his eyes again and her fingers started tracing circles around his stomach, "Do you think we could live together? I know what I said about not wanting to do that, but I'm having money problems and I really think I'm ready to at least _try_ living with you again. I mean, I'm practically doing it right now, right?"

"Mmhm,"

"So you think it would be ok to leave my apartment and sell some of my furniture so I can be here with you?" This wasn't something he was ready to talk about. Not at night, so he just kept quiet. "Or maybe… maybe if you don't want me to live here I could just find a cheaper place."

"No, it's fine." Her fingers had gone under his shirt at this point, which was way too much for him to remain calm anymore, so his eyes were open and he was fully awake. "You could live here, but I don't see why you don't just ask your dad for a loan or something. I thought he was giving you money to pay for college."

"He was up until we went down to visit. When we first told him we were living together he told me that if I got pregnant he'd stop paying for my bills because I was going to have to learn how to make ends meet on my own, but he assumed that I'd be with you when it happened, not broken up and in separate living arrangements. So that's why I want to live with you, so I can save money and sell some of my things so I don't go into debt. It's either this or I'll have to drop out of college for the time being until I can figure out what I'm doing."

"Wait, you'd drop out just because of the baby? This is my fault. I'm so sorry." He felt really bad for making this happen to her. He was the one who got her pregnant and he was the one who made a mistake that made this happen. But it was a good mistake because his daughter was the best, most amazing, and incredible thing that had ever happened to him. He wasn't ever going to fall out of love with her. Ever.

"No, it's not your fault. I let it happen too, so don't blame yourself." She moved her fingers away from his skin. A wave of relief rushed over him and he was free to relax a little.

"Yeah, but now that it's actually happening and not just hypothetical and you're actually having to drop out and actually having to go through all of this… it's- this whole thing sucks." She laughed.

"Yeah, it kind of does. But we need to get past all of the bad things that have been going on and focus on just getting through this pregnancy and figuring us out." He sighed. She was right. She was always right.

"What do we need to figure out, exactly?" That made her quiet. For the first time in a while, he stunned her to silence. He was proud of his ability to do that to her, it made him feel like he was dominant when really, he was just helping break her down like he was supposed to be doing.

"We need to figure out where we each stand in regards to our relationship." He knew she knew where he stood. And he sort of knew where she stood, so it wasn't like anything was going to be a revelation. He wanted to get married and have his daughter and then have more kids later on and she just wanted to dip her toes into the stream of maybe a little more than just dating. That was how it was and that was how it was going to be for a while, he had a feeling.

"I love you, Maggie, and I want to be with you forever. Until I die forever. And I know you know that, but before you don't talk to me anymore and just go to sleep, you need to hear it again." She was silent. This was the point in the conversation where Maggie didn't get her way, which was the way of talking about whatever and keeping to her point of view on the topic. She was going to shut down and she wasn't going to say anything until the morning, when he woke up and she had to say good morning. That was just how she was. All the time.

"Jasper, I _know_ what you think."

"Then maybe you should tell me what you think. You haven't told me what you want in five years yet. What do you want in five years?" She was quiet again and Jasper grew frustrated, as if he hadn't already. He was just trying to speak in Maggie language. He found it easier to communicate with her like this. She spoke in five to ten year plans since she graduated from high school. When they were together before, her five year plan involved college and maybe, just maybe, thinking about getting engaged.

"Five years from now I want to graduate and I want to find a permanent job somewhere close to wherever I live,"

"And…?"

"And I want to be in a really good relationship with you. I don't know what that means, but I do want to be serious." He exhaled.

"Ok, so ten year plan. Tell me what you want in ten years."

"I want to be married in ten years," she stated. "To someone who loves me and my daughter."

"So you don't necessarily want it to be me?" The statement was concerning. "To someone" wasn't him. It wasn't _not_ him either, so he couldn't be prematurely upset about what she said. Basically it meant she thought she might not really love him as much as she said she did, but he knew she couldn't possibly be like that, right? She wasn't _that_ cold hearted.

"No," she sighed. Jasper sat up and turned the light on again.

"Ok, this is something we need to talk about. You can't just say one thing and then say another thing and expect me to be ok with it." Maggie sat up and contorted her face as if she were in thought, but he knew her well enough to know she wasn't.

"I don't know, Jasper. I guess I don't trust you explicitly. That whole phone call and then Whitney coming here with you- I don't know. It all adds up kind of and I do want to trust you and be completely ok with letting us be together like we are and maybe be more than this, but-"

"Maggie, I would never _ever_ cheat on you. Even if you weren't pregnant and even if you were about to break up with me anyway, it wouldn't happen. You know who the last person I went out with was?" She shook her head and he sighed as he prepared himself to say it. "You. And before you it was someone in my business class. It was only a fifteen minute thing at a party. She was using me so her ex would get jealous and he did. And then he hit me, so that was over pretty fast." She laughed.

"Ok, so you're not going to cheat on me and you're not cheating on me."

"Right," Maggie smiled.

"So now that that's out of the way," She grabbed his hand, which was sort of confusing, and she exhaled. "I love you."

"I think we-" She gave him a look and he closed his mouth.

"I love you but I think we shouldn't rush our relationship. What you want and what my father wants is _not_ what I want and I'm not ready to be engaged or married yet even though I _am_ pregnant with your daughter and we're dating and we-" At this point she was doing the drag the conversation on as far as she possibly could until he did something or said something to make her shut up. Most of the time it was turning the light off or telling her that he'd talk to her about that in the morning, but he wasn't going to do that this time.

"Maggie, I love you and I love the fact that you're having my baby, but I think that you're unnecessarily hiding behind that excuse of you're not ready so you don't have to feel like you're really trying to be in our relationship." Her eyes flew downward and Jasper sighed. This was it. This was the third major fight that they'd ever had as a couple, which was pretty cool, but also not cool at the same time because they were at odds with each other and absolutely _no_ sleep was going on at all.

"Jasper," she breathed. She was crying, which meant he ousted her. "Jasper, that's not true."

"Yeah it is, Babe. I know we can get through this but you need to admit it first." Silence. And then she leaned on his shoulder and squeezed his hand.

"Ok, so I have been acting like I don't want to be engaged and faking a lot of things. But I really do love you and I want to be with you so don't break up with me."

"What? Why would I break up with you?"

"Because I'm not being a really good girlfriend right now and I completely understand if-" He kissed her to stop her, one of his favorite methods.

"I'm not breaking up with you, Maggie. How am I supposed to know when you're ready to be more than this?" Maggie chewed at her lip and lifted herself over him so she could turn the lamp off.

"I'll tell you when I'm ready."

"And do you promise you won't _not_ be with me in ten years?" She answered him with a laugh and then she curled up next to him just like she had been earlier after he lay back down.

"I can't really promise you that, but if you do something for me then you'll probably be a contender."

"And what would that be?"

"I'm really craving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Oh, the joys of having a pregnant girlfriend.


	18. Chapter 18: Two Dates and a Name

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History.**

**A/N: Just so you know, this chapter takes place a day before Maggie's birthday, in case you have any confusion in the timeline, which is very possible. I named the baby and I hope it's not bad because I felt like the name I picked fit, somewhat, so no hate please. **

**Also in this chapter is Whitry, because I felt bad for Henry after what happened last chapter. So I hope you don't hate that either. **

**Reviews are amazing! Thank you for reading! :)**

Chapter 18- Two Dates and a Name

(Jasper and Whitney Alternating POV)

**Jasper**

"Ok, so how about we name her Delilah?" Jasper suggested over date night dinner. He made her pizza per her request and since Henry was officially dating Whitney, they were alone for at least three hours. Maggie crinkled her nose at the idea and he sighed. They had been trying to pick a name since dinner started, which was almost twenty minutes ago. Somehow they were still eating.

"Delilah reminds me of a flower for some reason and then it reminds me of that overplayed song, so no." Jasper laughed, which made her laugh and cover her mouth. "Maybe we should stop thinking so specifically. Maybe we should get a phone book and pick a name that way."

"But most of the people in the phone book are men," he pointed out. Maggie sighed and looked around the room. Her eyes widened after a moment and then she sprang to her feet as best she could with her weight being all poorly distributed. She left the room and he heard her rifling through something, what he wasn't too sure, but it sounded like a bag.

When she returned, she held in her hand a baby name book. She smiled at him as she sat back down at the table. "I got this a few days ago but I completely forgot until just now." Jasper watched as she opened it and started scanning through it, but then she did something unexpected. She closed the book and looked at him. Her fingers went running through the book and she flipped it open blindly and pointed to a random name. This was going to be a very interesting night.

Jasper dared to be the one to look at the name she pointed to and he laughed the name in response, "Agnes," Maggie shook her head.

"No, we're not naming our daughter Agnes," She flipped through the pages and stopped randomly, pointing to a name she was unaware of for the second time.

"Eisley?" He kind of liked that name, but it didn't seem like it fit. Not for their firstborn daughter anyway. Maybe their second, if they had a second.

"It's ok, but I don't think we should name her that," Maggie shut the book and flipped it open again, this time pointing after glancing down at the page.

"Lucy," Jasper stated. Maggie read the page and Jasper just watched her. It was funny watching her act so serious about naming their daughter. He did think it was kind of a good thing though, because if it were up to him, she'd be something like Jenny and it would be completely not original. Everyone names their daughter Jennifer, don't they?

"Like in Narnia," Maggie said, looking at him. He got where she was going with this. Maggie was still reading Narnia to her because Verne got a little too difficult for her morning brain and she found it easier to read something more childish and exciting rather than kind of exciting but complex. "I think it's a sweet name." He couldn't disagree with her. Lucy was kind of sweet. He didn't think very many kids had that name, but he could have been wrong.

"Do you want to name her that?" His hand went to her hand and he took it, stroking it slightly. She nodded. "But what about her middle name?" Maggie chewed at her lip.

"Um…" Jasper moved the book away from her and she immediately laughed when he started flipping through it. "Really Jasper? You're going to pick her middle name randomly? As if picking her first name like that wasn't enough." He shrugged as he flipped to a page and pressed his finger to the paper.

"Noelle," he read smoothly. "It means Christmas, which is kind of a conversation starter. I didn't find out about her until Christmas, right? So Noelle would be a good way to get her to learn about how amazing her daddy was when he got back with her mommy. _Plus_, it sounds good after Lucy." Maggie smiled and he flipped the book towards her.

"Lucy Noelle it is then," Jasper smiled in accomplishment. It only took them six months to name their kid. He thought it would take nine. Maggie sighed, obviously content, and closed the book. From where he was sitting, she was the most beautiful person on the planet. He was so lucky that she was having his daughter and that he was with her again. "What?"

"Nothing, can I not look at you?" She closed her eyes and a smile crawled across her lips.

"I don't see why you would. I'm so fat and disgusting," she complained. Jasper groaned and shook his head.

"You're _not_. You're just pregnant." For someone who knew absolutely nothing about pregnancy until he found out about her being pregnant, Jasper learned fairly quickly. He knew all about how her hormones were making her feel like she was fat all the time and how he was responsible for making her _not_ feel like that. It typically ended fairly well. "And you know that being pregnant means…"

"That I have a life inside me and I'm showing that with the extra weight. I know," They had gone over this once before. She knew there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, at least she told him that, and it wasn't like he showed great amounts of distaste towards how she looked. He was always telling her she looked amazing or that she made him look bad because of how incredible she was. "If we end up getting married and you want to have more kids, I don't think I'm going to give them to you."

"Why?" he asked, his eyes wide at even the idea. "Because you don't like me?"

"No, because even though you're completely irresistible, being pregnant is the worst and I don't want-" He burst out laughing, which made her stop talking and look at him funny. "Jasper,"

"Sorry, you called me irresistible, what am I supposed to do?" She scowled at him, but then her tense expression turned into bubbly laughter and she rested her hands on her six and a half months pregnant stomach.

"You _are_ irresistible," she stated more seriously. She looked down at her body and he could just make out the smile that she held. "Lucy is going to be _amazing_ if you're any indicator."

"No," Jasper shook his head. Maggie looked at him, obviously confused at what he said. "She's going to be more than amazing. She's going to be so amazing there's no word for it." She nodded in agreement and he got out of his chair to kneel down in front of her. He didn't care if this was awkward or if she thought he was doing something that he wasn't, he just wanted to feel his Lucy. Jasper put his hands on her stomach and sighed.

He was going to be a daddy to a beautiful little girl in less than three months and he had no idea of what he was doing at all. He was scared out of his mind that something would happen to her or that something would happen to Maggie. All he wanted was for them to know that he wasn't going to let anything happen, that he was going to do everything he could to make sure nothing did happen. He just hoped that Maggie had a really good birthday because that was what was keeping him hopeful.

. . .

**Whitney**

Her first date with Henry Griffin went well, surprisingly. He took her to dinner and then they went to go see a movie, which was so typical of a first date. Whitney knew first dates like the back of her hand, having been on at least seventy five in her entire life. None had been as eventful and fulfilling as this one was, though.

At dinner, the waiter spilled water on Henry and they got free dessert, which was both amazing and sort of funny when it happened. She was amazed at how he could actually hold a conversation that would typically be held on a date rather than talking about lost artifacts or legends that had yet to be proven legitimate. They talked about where he travelled to and what brought him back to the US. He seemed to be really interested in what she was doing in New York and in why she wasn't already in a relationship.

The movie turned out to be a complete failure, so Henry leaned in about halfway through and asked her if she wanted to go, which she desperately did. Instead of taking her back to the hotel, he drove her back to Jasper's Dream House, also known as the JDH or Barbie's Dream House in Whitney's mind. It was the nickname she and Henry bestowed upon it once when Jasper was at a doctor's appointment with Maggie.

She thought the idea of remodeling a house for her was very sweet and very smart at the same time. From what Maggie told her, they were really already way more than friends and they could easily get married at almost any second if they wanted to. But apparently Jasper didn't see that Maggie was ready for that, so the house basically served a double purpose, making Jasper one of the most serious and romantic guys she knew.

Henry took her upstairs and into a room with a skylight in the ceiling. It was for Maggie to use as an office or as a getaway room. It was actually Jasper's idea to have the skylight, and now she could see why it was such a good idea. Directly under the skylight, Henry had laid down a blanket and pillows. She looked at him curiously, but he just held out his arm to the spot on the floor and she took that as a cue to lie down on the floor, which she did.

It was really amazing. The stars were out in full force and the moon was just barely visible from the corner of the window. Whitney scarcely realized that Henry was down on the ground beside her when she searched the sky for clusters of stars that made constellations.

"When I was little my dad gave me a star," She turned her head to look at him and saw him looking back. "He said it was because I was his star." Henry smiled in response and so did she as she turned her head back to the sky.

"Where was it?" he asked. Whitney didn't hesitate to point towards the moon.

"The second star to the left of the moon. Sometimes it's hard to see," She inched to the left so he could see what she was pointing at and when she looked at him, rather than looking at the sky, he was looking at her.

"Jasper told me you were looking for me," he said softly with that curiosity that could solve thousand year old problems in a day. Whitney nodded slightly. It was true; she was looking for Henry Griffin. For what reason, she still didn't know. She guessed it was because she was getting to a point in her life where just a career wasn't good enough and she needed companionship, but no one was anything like him. They lacked that mysterious flare and that hard to grasp thought process he had. It was what intrigued her, what made her _very_ interested in him. "Why?"

"I…I don't know," she lied. Henry looked skeptical and he rolled onto his side. "Ok, maybe I know why, but I don't think you really want to know, do you?" He smiled- something that made her heart skip a beat. It shouldn't have been like that. Henry shouldn't have been making her feel like she was in high school all over again, but he was.

"Try me,"


	19. Chapter 19: Maggie's Birthday

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History, but I do own Lucy. **

**A/N: Yes, twice in one week! I hope you love this chapter because it's super long and super intense. **

**Much love!**

Chapter 19- Maggie's Birthday

(Maggie POV)

_She was sitting on her bed after her nighttime shower waiting for her mom to come in and brush her hair. It took her just a minute, like she said it would, but she finally came in and crawled up on the bed behind her._

"_Mommy?" Maggie asked, her tiny voice cracking._

"_Mm?" The woman began to brush through her hair, not tugging at all. Maggie was very patient with her even when she tugged sometimes, though. Her mommy told her that it was good to be patient._

"_Tell me again." She chuckled and Maggie could tell that she was smiling._

"_Alright," She paused for a moment and then began, "When you get older you'll find a man who will love you more than anything in this whole world. He'll look at you and you'll look at him and you'll know that he's the one for you by the way he smiles at you. But the most important part-"_

"_Is that I'll have his heart just like I have yours." Maggie finished excitedly. Her mother laughed._

"_That's right, Sweetie. You'll have his heart just like you have mine. And one day, when you're ready, you'll marry him and have babies so I can spoil them silly with presents." Her mom kissed her on the cheek and little Maggie giggled._

"_But what if I can't find him, Mommy?" she asked more seriously._

"_You'll find him, Princess. I promise you that you'll find him."_

She wasn't very excited about her birthday. It was a day that she didn't look forward to, only because everyone made a point to tell her happy birthday. It was just a day that came and went, making her one year older in the process; it wasn't something that should have been a big deal.

She was twenty four years old now, and she was still kind of getting used to that fact. She was older than Jasper, which she liked to pick on him with. It was sort of a rivalry they kept going even when they didn't have competing school or grades to worry about. But the thing she was just now realizing was that she was pregnant at twenty four. Her life plan definitely did not include get pregnant at twenty four. In fact, she planned on starting thinking about having a family when she was slightly older than this- probably twenty six. Who was she kidding, though? She was in love with him and completely unprotected when it happened, so it wasn't like she didn't expect anything to come of it.

She spent the night at Jasper's because he told her that she should wake up with him on her birthday, like waking up with her family. She thought it was sweet of him, like she thought almost everything he did was. And she enjoyed thinking of them as a family, even if Henry was kind of like the odd uncle that never moved out.

They decided that she was going to move in with them the day after her birthday only because it was going to be easier that way and because Jasper insisted on it. He was being nothing short of perfection to her, which made her feel like she made the right choice in deciding to move in with him.

"Maggie," Jasper sang as he tapped her on the arm the morning of the celebratory day. She reluctantly opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him looking at her.

"Hey," she mumbled.

"You're _so_ beautiful in the morning, do you know that?" Maggie smiled and slid upwards so she was sitting up beside him. She leaned into him, still quite tired.

"That's nice of you."

"You know what today is?"

"Don't even say it, Jasper. I hate my birthday." He laughed.

"Ok, fine, but that's not what I was going to say."

"What were you going to say then?" She tipped her head upwards to look at her boyfriend. He literally could have had anything in mind. He was _that_ unpredictable as of late.

"I was going to say…" He paused and bit his lip. Maggie rolled her eyes and elbowed him.

"You _were_ going to say it then." Jasper laughed and nodded.

"Ok, you got me. But I _was_ going to tell you something else." He looked more serious and she held her breath as he reached over to his nightstand. She only held her breath because she had just had a dream about him proposing and just last night, he knelt down in front of her almost like he was going to do it, and those thoughts being fresh in her mind, she was wary of anything surprising.

He returned holding a small box, making her even more freaked out. He wasn't proposing, was he? And if he was- what was he doing it right then for? He could wait, right? She was so frazzled, but only internally. She couldn't let herself show it outwardly because if he knew that she was like this, he'd probably not ask and she didn't want that to happen again.

Jasper placed the box on her lap and she lifted it cautiously. He laughed when she looked at him, so she defended herself by shaking her head. "I won't open it if you keep laughing, Jasper." He stopped and she looked back at the box in her hand.

After staring at it for a good solid minute and determining that it wasn't a ring, she opened it to see a small slip of paper. She looked at him for a second and then took it out feverously. She had a thing about secrets and mysterious things, so this was definitely right up her alley. On the paper was a small statement. _Under the bed. _

Maggie looked at her boyfriend as if to say exactly what she said aloud, "Seriously?" He laughed once and nodded.

"You have to do it or you won't get your present." Maggie couldn't help but smile as she managed to get off of the bed and down onto the ground as far as she could without laying or hurting herself. Under the bed, there was a single letter. The letter 'u' was wooden in origin, but painted a light yellow. When she got it back on the bed, she eyed him curiously and he just picked the letter u up and showed her the sticky note on the back. She smiled and took the note off of the letter. This one was just like the last one. _Bathroom counter._

When she got to the bathroom, she found the letter 'y' resting there like it was perfectly normal. She flipped it over to find the next note. It simply stated: _Wait until later. _He drew a heart in the empty space, which made her smile. Jasper was leaning against the doorframe when she turned to go back. A smug smile rode his lips, making her want to kiss him.

She didn't have a problem being so intimate with him. He seemed to love her more than ever and she couldn't help but feel her heart racing every time he breathed, so she allowed herself to let go of insecurity and feeling like no one could possibly like her pregnant body. Jasper obviously had no problems with it. She stepped over to him and allowed him to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Wait until later," She held the note up and cocked an eyebrow. Her boyfriend just continued to smile and she let him kiss her on the lips.

"Then I guess you'll see later," She leaned her head into his shoulder and closed her eyes to breathe him in. "Happy birthday beautiful," She had never felt butterflies flapping against the walls of her stomach as rapidly as they were when he said those words.

. . .

Maggie knew she loved Jasper even though he was spending a lot of time away from her that day. She stayed at his apartment, per request, and at around eleven, Whitney came over. She was so glad when she found out that Whitney was staying in Connecticut for a while. She hadn't had a good girlfriend for a long time. And hanging around two guys every weekend wasn't helping her social status. Apparently, Whitney ran into Jasper and Henry at the mall while they were job hunting for Henry. She wasn't too sure if that was even possible- Henry Griffin working at the mall- but she had to trust that it was what happened. How else could they have met up?

"Hey Whitney," Maggie greeted when she opened the door. Her friend gave her a quick hug and stepped inside. "So what brings you here?"

"I wanted to see you. I heard that it's your birthday," Maggie smiled and closed her eyes.

"Did Jasper tell you? I told him to not tell anyone." Whitney laughed and walked into the kitchen freely.

"I have my ways, Maggie. Anyway, I was kind of thinking that to celebrate we should veg out on ice cream and watch old movies."

"That sounds _so_ amazing right now, Whitney. You have no idea." She pulled a gallon of ice cream out of the freezer and Maggie grabbed two spoons from the drawer. They then proceeded to sit down on the couch after Whitney put in a movie she picked randomly from Jasper's vast collection of movies. For such a busy person, Jasper had a lot of movies. She assumed most of them were collected after the break up when he was feeling like crap and needed to clear himself of the obvious pain he was in.

"So tell me what's going on with you and Jasper," Whitney demanded before the movie could even start.

"We're together," Maggie said, raising her voice an octave.

"Yeah, but… _how_ together? Are you guys thinking about marriage right now or are you _just_ dating?" Maggie bit her lip as she rested her legs up on the coffee table and wiggled her toes.

"I know he wants to get married, but he hasn't asked since we were in DC and I shot him down." Whitney nodded as if she understood completely, but Maggie knew she didn't get it at all. Their relationship was quite confusing.

"So what do you think about it? Do you want to get married or are you not interested in that?"

"I guess…" Maggie stuck her spoon in her mouth to give herself time to think. "I guess I haven't really thought about it, but I don't think I'd be opposed if he asked again." Whitney broke into a smile, like she knew something that she didn't know and wasn't going to spill.

"Can I be your maid of honor?" Maggie rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Of course, why wouldn't you be?" Whitney wouldn't stop smiling even as she looked at the TV. After about two minutes, her friend turned back to her.

"Henry asked me to go out with him again." Maggie couldn't help but smile at the news. She always knew Henry and Whitney were definitely a possibility if they ever were in the same mile radius in their hectic lives.

"And you must have said yes," she teased. Whitney nodded.

"How did you know you were in love with Jasper? Like _when_ did you know you were in love with him?" She was _not_ expecting that question. She had to think about it, but the answer was simple and she didn't hesitate to say it because it was the terrible truth.

"When I was sitting on my bathroom floor with three positive pregnancy tests and my phone in my hand almost ready to call him. That's probably the worst way to know you're in love with somebody, I'm sure you won't find out that way." Maggie shook her head at her idiocy, but Whitney placed her hand on her arm.

"I'm sure there are worse ways." She knew Whitney was right. There was always something worse than she could think of. Like if you were dying and you realized you loved someone as you took your final breath. That would be very much worse than how she found out. And there, she just thought of a brilliant novel idea. Now Lucy wouldn't have to go to public school- she could homeschool her like Jasper told her would probably be a good idea.

It was like he was apart of her. Everything had a connection to him or something that reminded her of him. If he wasn't so perfect and wasn't the father of her baby, she probably wouldn't even be wishing he'd just propose. She actually wanted him to do it, and not because she was pregnant and her father kept sending pressuring emails and everything, but because she genuinely believed that he was the person she was going to end up with.

It was around three in the afternoon and they were about one third of the way through watching Casablanca, Whitney talking most of the time about how Ingrid Bergman was bad at faking emotion, when the door opened and Jasper came walking into the home.

"Hey," he greeted sort of breathlessly. Maggie looked over at him and smiled.

"Hey Jasper," He approached the couch and kissed her. She thought it was strange that he was back at three in the afternoon. He didn't even tell her where he was going earlier, when he told her to stay right there and not go anywhere.

"So… I have to show you something." Maggie looked at Whitney and she smiled at her as if to say it was fine. She turned back to Jasper and nodded.

"Ok," He took her by the hand when they walked out of the apartment. She was kind of curious as to what he was going to show her, especially since she couldn't handle not knowing things. It bothered her, and she knew he knew that. When she opened the car door, she smiled at the presence of another letter. This time, it was the letter 'c'. She sat down and flipped it over for a note, but there was no note. Jasper got into the car and she swore he was mocking her when he didn't say anything but just started driving. "Where are we going?" She asked the question anxiously.

"That," he paused. "Is a surprise. It's a part of what I have to show you." She sighed and toyed with the letter that rested in her lap.

"Ok, but it had better not be embarrassing or anything."

"It's not," he said quickly.

"I trust you, Jasper. But if it's something completely ridiculous like a birthday party I'm not participating willingly." She swore he concealed a laugh.

"Could you cover your eyes? It's kind of a big surprise." Maggie sighed and did as he requested.

"Should I be concerned?" He definitely laughed then and she smiled.

"No, it's not anything you need to worry about."

"Is it something Lucy should worry about?" Jasper's hand went to her thigh and she exhaled as the tingle went through her.

"Mama, there's nothing for you to worry about. It's just a birthday present slash late Christmas present."

"A _big_ birthday present slash late Christmas present," she clarified. "I'm certain this is going to be bigger than when you sang to me for my birthday."

"I'm not saying anything more than it's a big birthday present slash late Christmas present and it's not embarrassing." Maggie almost wanted to open her eyes and remove her hand when the car finally stopped at least twenty minutes later. But Jasper knew her well enough to make her stop. "Don't open your eyes. I know you want to, but you can't yet. Just wait for me to get you out of the car."

"Ok," Before she could say anything else, he had already left the vehicle. Maggie sighed. Her boyfriend was so determined, so passionate. Whatever it was must have been something he was really serious about. The door opened and she sat there expectantly, clutching the letter c with her life.

"You can unbuckle," he said. She did and then, as her hand was in the middle of swinging back up with the buckle, Jasper took it and helped her out. "Ok, so we're walking around the front of the car now." Maggie smiled.

"Ok," He continued to walk her somewhere, but it wasn't determined where until she felt mushy snow covered grass underfoot.

"I want you to tell me how you feel right away, ok? If you hate it I want you to say that right away. Or if you love it-" She squeezed his hand. "Right. Just- don't feel like you have to lie."

"So am I allowed to open my eyes?" He was quiet for a second and then she heard him breathe.

"Yes." Maggie slowly pulled her hand away and almost reluctantly opened her eyes. In front of her was a house. Jasper Bartlett bought her a house for her birthday. Her jaw dropped and she was speechless for at least ten seconds just trying to comprehend it.

"A house," was all that came out when she could speak. She looked at him and then back at the building. "You… a house,"

"But that's not the best part," he said quickly. He then started tugging her along up to the front door, which she thought was very well painted a nice dark red. She was certain Whitney must have had say in that if she was involved at all.

Jasper opened the door and she smiled when she saw how warm and inviting the living room was. She almost wanted to live there. He took her down a hallway and up to a door that he stopped at. On the door was a wooden letter 'L'. Maggie smiled as she realized what it meant and mentally scolded herself for not catching it earlier. He was providing her with the letters of their daughter's name. She could assume that the room they now stood in front of was the nursery because the letter wouldn't belong anywhere else, and when the door was opened, she was proven correct. She gasped as shock set in.

They walked into the room and Maggie released his hand to examine everything up close. Jasper had assembled almost everything that Lucy was going to need, if not everything. And it was so beautiful, all of it. Even all of the stuffed animals that seemed to be cluttering the crib and dangling off of the dresser made her smile. She had a hunch that Henry had a hand in that. She smiled as her fingers trailed along the edge of the crib she had chosen that night at the baby store with Jasper. The tears came, but they weren't sad tears, they were happy tears. Jasper Bartlett knew the way to her heart- that was for sure.

But the best part of the room was the mural that was across from the crib. Animals and trees- she was sure Jasper had drawn all of them with his incredible creative artistic skill and then painted it. She especially loved the fact that the animals were so realistic and not fake looking at all. She was proud of them for doing such good work.

When she returned to him, she wiped at her eyes and smiled reassuringly so he didn't think she hated it. That was the furthest thing from the truth.

"Jasper, it's so perfect," she managed to say. "I don't know what to say." He gestured to the crib.

"You remember that night you spent the night and I got that phone call?" She nodded and he took her hand. "Whitney was freaking out about not having the crib yet so I went to the store and I ran into you so I couldn't bring one back for her. She was just calling to make sure I had it." Maggie knew she was right to forgive him. She smiled and that was the moment she let everything go. She let him in completely, without any fears of him cheating on her or any fears of him betraying her. All she wanted to do was be with him, and she didn't ever want to not be.

"Henry went over to your apartment today and got all of the stuff your family gave us," Jasper walked over to the dresser and pulled it open, revealing several nicely folded articles of small clothing. "Whitney was freaking out because they didn't get very many clothes, so she went to get some that were girl appropriate, apparently. Anyway, we put it all in here. I hope you don't mind that Henry was over at your apartment-"

"No, it's fine," Maggie smiled. "It's very nice of you all. This whole thing is _so_ nice." She squeezed his hand and that made him smile.

"So the letters aren't really your birthday present," he said slowly. Maggie laughed.

"I think I got that when I saw the house." He held up a bag of all of the letters and he set it down in the crib.

"I'll hang them up later as long as you come see the rest of the house." Maggie looked around the nursery one last time and nodded. Her boyfriend then proceeded to tour her around the home.

He told her that he and Henry and Whitney were working on it for a whole month, Whitney only working for about half of that time, but she helped nonetheless. She was flattered, if there was a word for what she was, that he would buy and renovate a place for her and Lucy to live.

"There's one room I haven't shown you yet," Jasper said when they finished looking at most of the second story of the house. She allowed him to take her to the door on the far right of where they stood and when he opened the door, she smiled immediately.

It was what looked like an office, but it was much bigger, and in the middle of the room was a telescope that pointed up to the skylight in the roof. There was a window on the far right wall with a window seat that was begging her to curl up on it with a book or her laptop, and a bookshelf built into the wall to her right, which was heaven. She loved to read, and she knew Lucy would too. It would be genetic, she had a feeling.

"Jasper," she awed. "This is so nice."

"I put the skylight in myself." She gave him a hug and he rocked her back and forth a few times before she released him and looked back at the room.

"We can show Lucy the stars now," He nodded and she stared at him for the longest time. "This is probably the best birthday present _ever_. Thank you." Jasper smiled, but only a little, like something was on his mind.

"Um," He closed his eyes tightly and his hand went to his pocket. "Here's the key," He held it out to her and she took it. But something in her wanted to give it back to him, to tell him that it was his key too, and that she officially loved him more than she loved anything. But she didn't, and instead they had a staring contest that wasn't really a contest until he spoke again, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said softly, her fingers flipping the key around repeatedly. It was what appeared to be a nervous reaction to the situation placed in front of her. Here she was, pregnant and on her birthday in a house that her boyfriend completely redid just for her and their daughter. It wasn't for him or Henry, it was for her. That in itself was enough for her to realize that Jasper probably intended on letting it be like that. He was going to let her do whatever she deemed most comfortable and he wasn't going to force her out of the hole she was in. Whether it was intentional or not, he was easing her out of the hole and into saying something to him that would change their relationship. Basically, he was breaking her. He had a purpose for everything he did, she knew that now. He was like a mystery story author- he knew how to plot his moves so the truth would come out.

With the new revelations bobbing around in her head, she couldn't help but feel a compelling need to do something about it. What, she wasn't sure. But she knew it had to be soon or he'd leave and their potential future together would be shattered. So, she swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment as she held the key out to him.

"No, Jasper. This key belongs to both of us. It's your key too or it's not my key at all." He looked like he got hit by a truck when she said that, which sort of made her want to take it back. "You told me you wanted this relationship. You keep telling me that every time I look at you or talk to you in different ways, but all I do is try to hide how I feel or try to excuse it as something else when I know what it is. I'm…" She paused to think about what she was doing. It was such a risk, especially since Jasper was prone to proposing and that had been on her mind all day. "Jasper, I'm in love with you and I don't want to- I _need_ you to be here with me in this house. I need you to tell me it's ok to feel like this and that it's completely normal to feel like this. To feel like I don't ever want to be away from you and to feel like I can't breathe when I'm not around you." She closed her eyes and shook her head. She was _such_ an idiot. What was she doing? Jasper looked like he was trying to catch his breath after falling down a flight of stairs and she was officially on the verge of running away.

"I…" Jasper's mouth hung open and she continued to shake her head as she stepped closer to him.

"I don't want you to leave me," Now he looked like he could laugh at her and he shook his head before she collapsed into him.

"It's ok, Maggie. I'm not going anywhere." When she finally pulled back from his safe and warm arms, she pressed her lips against his and tried to stop herself from going completely insane about how right it felt, being like that. She moved back from him and searched his eyes for something. What, she wasn't sure. She just got lost looking into them almost missed it when he moved.

He slipped down onto his knee and looked up at her, causing her to close her eyes in disbelief. Being on edge all day about him proposing was what did it. And so did the combination of verbally declaring to Whitney when she first knew she loved Jasper and everything she just spilled out to him. She knew he was going to ask, he _had_ to be. This whole thing was a set up plan. He knew what she'd do and he knew she'd be antsy about him proposing. Sometimes, he got too little credit for what he deserved. He was _so_ incredibly smart.

"Maggie, you know I love you, right?" She nodded and took a deep breath to mentally prepare herself for what she was certain was coming. "Will you live here with me?"

She never expected that she would be so upset at that moment than she really was. Maybe Jasper did get all the credit he deserved. Maybe he wasn't the one her mom was talking about when she was little. Maybe the glimmer in his eyes when she looked at him and the butterflies she felt were false. She had half a mind to leave him, but she couldn't and she wouldn't because she was head over heels into this and there was still a possibility that he would ask. Maybe he was just testing her. Or maybe she was over thinking the situation. As usual. One thing was certain, though. Maggie now questioned which her baby girl was going to be: a Bartlett or a Winnock, and it wasn't sitting well with her stomach.


	20. Chapter 20: What Happened Next

**Disclaimer: I don't own Unnatural History. I own Lucy.**

**A/N: So, this is the last chapter. I hope you like it, because it's so fluffy I almost made myself a blanket out of it. Because this is the last chapter, it has some time skipping, but I have labeled it so you don't get confused. Let me know what you think! I love reviews!**

**Much love! :)**

Chapter 20- What Happened Next (Pretty Much Forever)

[Jasper and Maggie Alternating POV]

**Jasper**

He chickened out. He _was_ going to ask her to marry him. He was going to do the thing she obviously wanted him to do, but he got to thinking about what he was doing and he realized that she deserved at least something a thousand times better than what he was about to give to her- a proposal on her birthday in a house she had never seen in her life... ok maybe he was an idiot and be should have just asked. Her birthday only came once a year and it wasn't like she wasn't showing him that she wanted him to ask. She _obviously_ wanted him to ask. He was such an idiot.

He was still on his knee awaiting an answer, so he did kind of have leeway here. He could have taken back the question and just posed it another way, or he could have shook his head and totally just started over. Either way seemed pretty much like it was going to work, because Maggie was stalling and she wasn't saying anything at all, almost like her mind was screaming at her and she was trying to reach a decision. She finally sighed very loudly and he cringed at the fact that he couldn't and didn't say anything.

"Why are you teasing me?" she asked softly. He could have broke down crying at how sad she looked. He wasn't a baby, though, so he was going to be strong.

"Look, Maggie I-"

"No, Jasper, all day you've been discreetly leaving little thoughts in my head about actually asking me to marry you and I've actually thought about it for a long time today. I'm just really confused right now at why you just don't ask, especially after I just said all of that to you. I thought you got the hint that I'm ready. I am _so_ much more than ready, Jasper. Today I'm finally letting you love me and I'm letting you do all of this for me because I envision having a life with you and with Lucy and I can't let this go like this." She was crying now, which only made him feel worse for not saying anything, in addition to what she said. He closed his eyes and looked down at the floor before nodding. She was right.

"Ok, you know what? Let's start over, Maggie. That was totally _not_ what I wanted to ask." She brought her hand up to her eyes to wipe at them. "Ok," Jasper took a deep breath and reached into his pocket to retrieve what he had wanted to get since he got down on his knee. "You are _so_ amazing, Maggie, and I love everything about you, even when you call yourself fat and ugly, which isn't true. You're definitely the most beautiful person I have ever known and I can say that with a straight face." She smiled and he did the same as he removed the ring from its place in his pocket. "This was what I really wanted to ask when I got down here and I'm being serious. I actually had this whole thing planned out, but I didn't do it. So, um, will you marry me?"

. . .

**Maggie**

She was one hundred percent sure her heart rate went up at least from 50 to 150 miles per hour if her heart worked like a car, which it didn't, but she wasn't able to think about how many beats per minute her heart was going after that question came out of her boyfriend.

She just stared at him with her mouth open and her hands shaking down by her gelatin-like legs. She wasn't expecting that he'd rewind and ask. She assumed he'd probably just admit he was too afraid or at least that he was going to ask, but not right then _because_ of what she said. And she wasn't even sure where the ring came from. He must have been expecting he'd ask eventually, so he probably had it on his person at all times just in case.

She tried to get her breathing back to regularity, but it was so difficult with Lucy moving around and nausea coming in waves for no reason other than she was being asked the most life changing question that a person could get asked.

Maggie knew how she had to answer, especially now that she had just said those words to him about envisioning a life with him. The problem was this: she knew what she wanted right then, but was it what she would want in a week? In a month would she want that? What about a year? Would she still love him as much as she did right then in a year? Who knew what she would feel with hormones raging at the time of the question being asked and then them not existing when they'd be celebrating a year of being together.

_Ugh_, she hated this whole think it through before you answer business. She was _so_ tempted to just tell him that she was going to think about it and then go downstairs and make a pros and cons list right there on the spot before answering, but that was stupid. She didn't want to come across as stupid, not to the father of her child and potential husband. That would also make her come across as unsure of their relationship and how she felt, which was the opposite of what she was portraying to him in her words.

So, Maggie took a substantially large breath to re-organize her mind and try to get her normal bodily functions back down to what they should have been but weren't and she said something she knew was going to be the right and the best answer.

"Yes,"

. . .

**Jasper**

_She said yes. She said yes! She said yes! Oh my God, she said yes._

Jasper was in shock. He stayed there with his jaw wide open and his eyes equally as wide. He wasn't sure if he was hearing things or not, but he was pretty sure that was a yes and he wasn't doing anything. Apparently he wasn't expecting her to say yes, because he didn't even think through what he was going to do if she answered him like she did, so he was stuck like a statue and she was still standing there, looking as amazing as ever. She _did_ just say that she wanted him to ask, basically, so why was it that he didn't know what to say or do? Why was he being all tense?

"Really?" he choked out. She nodded. He let out a laugh of relief and she smiled as he took her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger.

. . .

**Maggie**

The ring fit her finger, surprisingly. The water retention seemed to not be acting up like it had been for the past few weeks and she was so glad for that because the ring was the most amazing ring she had ever seen and she was proud to be wearing it.

Jasper stood up and that was when she immediately kissed him, because she was just that in love with him, and then she held her hand up to look at how the ring looked on her hand.

"I can't wait," she said, more confident in her position. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. It was like she was dreaming, but it was reality and Jasper had actually just asked her to marry him, something she had been hoping he'd do. "I can't wait to marry you."

"Really?" He looked like he couldn't believe her. She nodded.

"Yes, really, Jasper," He started grinning like a fool, which was so adorable, she couldn't explain what it made her feel like in words if she had to. She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled. "I used to not want this, you know. I used to just want you to be the one who would protect me and our baby from bad, tragic things, but I don't know what happened. I just-"

"You fell in love with me," he finished for her. "And that's why you cracked."

"I didn't crack," Maggie frowned and swatted at his chest playfully. "But thank you for not giving up even when you could have, Jasper, because this is what I wanted from the second I found out I was pregnant."

"Really?" he asked with disbelief. Maggie nodded.

"I didn't realize it when it happened, though. You helped me find out so… thank you." Jasper smiled proudly.

"So when do you want to get married? You pick because I don't want to rush you." She laughed softly and dropped her hands out of his hair to his chest and looked him seriously in the eyes. She almost didn't want to answer him because it was just _that_ embarrassing, but she had to tell him. She swallowed and bit her lip before she answered him.

"How possible would eloping on a day like today be?"

. . .

**Maggie (A few hours later)**

Whitney was _so_ very excited to help dress her up in the best dress they could find at the maternity clothes store that day so she could marry Jasper looking at least like she was getting married. Jasper was going to wear something nice too, so she didn't feel too out of place wearing the nice white dress that felt both comfortable and amazing on her growing body.

The reason she didn't want a big wedding was explainable in a few reasons. One of them being the cost, another being that if she waited any longer she might back out, and a third being that she was due in about two months, so if they had to rush a wedding it wouldn't ever be as enjoyable as just eloping. Besides, Whitney and Henry were going to be able to be there, which was something that made them all feel better.

"I'm so glad you agreed to marry him," Whitney gushed as she brushed through her hair. "How did he ask? Was it romantic or sweet? Or both?" Maggie smiled at her friend's enthusiasm.

"I'd say both, but if it was one over the other it would be sweet," Whitney put her hand over her heart and stopped brushing her hair to sigh.

"I knew he was going to ask, that's why I brought it up earlier. He was talking to us about how he should ask you and we just said go for it, she won't say _no I hate you_." Maggie laughed and Whitney went back to brushing her hair. "So do you like the house? Jasper did so much work on it, you'd better."

"I do, I love it," Maggie promised. "He's such an amazing dad already and we don't have the kid to prove it yet." Whitney smiled at her through the mirror and Maggie returned it happily. Just thinking about him made her smile.

. . .

**Jasper**

"Do I look like I'm going to pass out?" Jasper asked Henry. His cousin laughed and shook his head.

"No, you look like you're about to jump off a cliff, not pass out." He sighed and adjusted his tie for the hundredth time. They were just eloping; it wasn't like it was a big deal, right? He wasn't supposed to be freaking out like he was. And it was Maggie's birthday, so it was also mandatory that he do what she wanted, right? He could have said he wanted to wait a little, but that look on her face- she was impossible to say no to, how was he supposed to say no because _he_ was the one going through a panic attack and not her? "Jasper, it's going to be fine. Maggie said she wanted to get married, right?"

"Yeah," Jasper swallowed and started nervously scratching at his scalp. "But it's a commitment and I don't know how it even happened."

"What?" Henry was obviously confused and so was he. He was so nervous he couldn't remember what he just said. Maggie did this to him.

"I don't know," he sighed. "Just tell me something, Henry. If you were getting married to your pregnant girlfriend of just barely a month and a half what would you do?"

"I don't think I would be in that situation," Jasper rolled his eyes and Henry held his hands up. "Ok, if I were you then I wouldn't be panicking. Maggie and you are soulmates, Jasper, and your light forces are at their best when you're together." He was sure that was supposed to be inspirational, but he wasn't comprehending Henry mannerisms at the moment.

"Ok, let's just go so we can get this thing over with and I don't freak out anymore than I am right now." Henry laughed at him and patted him firmly on the back as they left the house for the courthouse to meet Whitney and Maggie, who were also buying a ring for him.

. . .

**Maggie**

She had never been so excited in her whole life about one simple change than she was about this one. She was now Maggie Bartlett and the little baby inside of her was the same way. It was her favorite thing to think about- Lucy being a Bartlett- right next to the fact that she was married to the most amazing guy on the planet. Relief washed over her in giant waves, and for the first time in a while, she allowed herself to let loose and stay up until eleven o' clock at night.

It was true that she had once believed that marrying Jasper could have been the absolute end of her, but she honestly didn't know where that thought even was from. She couldn't have been happier.

Whitney was so excited that they got married that she insisted that they bring Jasper's bed and most of their other things to the house so they wouldn't have much else to do when she and Henry left for New York, so that was what they did immediately following the wedding. Then Whitney and Henry stayed until at least nine and they had birthday cake that Whitney made and played Xbox just so Maggie could prove that she could still beat them at Call of Duty, regardless of the fact that she felt nauseated just seeing all of those dead people on the screen.

Henry and Whitney were going to New York in a few days because Whitney's job was in jeopardy, apparently, and Henry was going to go work at a museum there. Apparently Whitney thought that he would do very well there, so Maggie (and Jasper) was quite supportive of this move. Maggie sort of thought that they were made for each other, despite the fact that Henry was completely unstable sometimes and Whitney was so devoted to her career as a journalist. She had faith that they would make it, just like she had faith that she and Jasper would. If Henry and Whitney didn't make it, then at least they would have Lucy in common. Maggie gave the role of godmother to Whitney. It made sense to make her godmother, did it not?

When Henry and Whitney left the new house for Jasper's apartment, she and Jasper spent at least two hours talking to her parents and Jasper's dad on the phone about what they did. Her father was the most surprised, but he also became the most excited, right next to her mom, about what happened. Her husband (oh how she loved thinking that word) talked to his dad first and then her new father-in-law practically had a heart attack over the phone when he was congratulating them about getting married. He was so glad Maggie was a part of their family, she couldn't have agreed more.

"Your dad is so amazing," Maggie said as they lay in bed that night. She lay against him, her hands holding his and her fingers twisting around his wedding ring. It was an amazing feeling, Jasper having a ring. She was lucky it fit him, though. She and Whitney had to find a random stranger to test the ring out on and they weren't sure of how big Jasper's finger was, but apparently they had a good fitter. "And so nice." Jasper smiled and his other hand tugged her closer to him.

"You didn't know that already? You knew him before today." She laughed softly.

"I know, but now he's my father-in-law so I can say these kinds of things out loud." Jasper scoffed and pressed his lips against her forehead in a tired kiss.

"You should probably get some sleep, Mama. It's late," Maggie sighed. He was right, of course, but this was also her birthday _and_ wedding night, so if she didn't get to stay up as long as she wanted to, then something was seriously wrong.

"What if I don't want to sleep?" she asked. Her husband wiggled his eyebrows and she only laughed when he helped her straddle his waist.

She had never had such an amazing birthday. This birthday topped all of her other birthdays plus every Christmas she had ever experienced added to every happy event since her birth, and Jasper was the reason for that. So yes, she did make the right choice in agreeing to marry him. Maybe breaking up with him was the only way this birthday would have ever turned out to be so incredible, so maybe she did make the right choice in breaking up with him all those months ago. And maybe, just maybe, if she gave it time, she'd be more than willing to give Jasper another baby boy or girl. They just had to get through this one first.

. . .

**Jasper (Approximately Two Months Later)**

He hated working while his wife was at their house all by herself. All she did all day was make little hats and booties for Lucy. Once, he caught her attempting to induce labor via exercise, which didn't work in the end. Nothing seemed to work, though. She tried almost everything there was on the internet on inducing labor and still nothing. She was sick and tired of being pregnant and it was so well known by now, especially since she texted him at work all the time describing how she was having what they nicknamed "fake" contractions, the kind that were but weren't really going anywhere.

He was certain that one of these days she'd just give up and drive herself to the hospital and demand for a cesarean even though it was completely not possible at this point. She was exactly one day overdue, which made him anxious that he had to be at work all day on a day she could just explode. He did everything he could to prevent it from happening, but his boss was being completely mean and made him go in. He wasn't even doing anything when he was there, just talking to his wife via text messages and pretending to be reading emails. So when his phone rang, he grabbed it after the first ring. He didn't know what to expect from the person on the other end, but he had a feeling it was going to be interesting seeing he had no idea of what he was even doing at work that day.

"Hello?"

"Jasper, I think I'm going into labor. I'm six minutes apart but I just realized it." His eyes widened and he looked at the time.

"Ok, just don't move. I'll be there in like fifteen minutes."

"No, don't hang up. Talk to me so I don't think about it." He wasn't about to disagree with his pregnant wife, so he stayed on the phone and talked to her until they were in the same room, which was humorous, but neither of them laughed about it.

Luckily, he got her to the hospital before her water broke. It was pretty much downhill from that. It took exactly fourteen and a half hours, about three of them spent pacing outside of the delivery room because he had almost passed out at one point, but Lucy was finally born, a whole two days late at two in the morning on a Saturday.

He sat in the chair beside Maggie's bed and watched her handle their daughter in her arms. She looked so beautiful like that, even though she also looked exhausted and like she had just given birth, which was exactly what happened. She looked at him and smiled.

"She looks like you, Jasper," He inched closer and she held the pink bundle out towards him. "You can hold her, Husband. She won't hate you and start crying." Jasper smiled at her positive thinking and took Lucy from her.

Once he held her in his arms for the first time, that was when everything started settling in. Lucy was his. Lucy was also Maggie's. Lucy was a little girl that was prone to all sorts of dangers in the world and he didn't want her exposed to anything like that. But the one thing he did know, out of all of the questions about what she was going to be like and how he was going to ever be a good dad, was that he loved her more than anything and he was _never_ going to let her go. Kind of like how he didn't let Maggie go when she was so hard to get to and so bitter and conflicted. With Lucy, he had a feeling it wouldn't be too hard, he had already fallen for her harder than he had ever fallen in love with Maggie, which seemed so impossible before, but was so possible now that Lucy was a warm bundle in his arms.

Her tiny fingers were just barely strong enough to touch his finger when he set it down so she could do just that as his eyes started watering just like he thought they would. He tried lying to himself with excuses like it was the stress and the being up all night, but it really wasn't. It was because Lucy was finally in his arms and she was the most beautiful baby girl he had ever seen.

He once thought that the best day he had ever had was Maggie's birthday, also known as his wedding day to the most amazing and beautiful woman on the planet, but no. The best day he had ever had was this one- the day his Lucy was born. She was a very good mix of both of him and his wife, with Maggie's eyes and his nose and a full head of dark brown, silky smooth, hair. She was also not prone to crying as much as any of the other babies in the hospital, he soon found out, which turned out to be a great thing come the day they brought her home.

It was just the start of their forever, and Jasper was _so_ glad he had it to spend with two of the most amazing and perfect ladies he had ever met.

. . .

_Fin._


End file.
